Mark Trahant (Photo by Jennifer King)

His inaugural column for The Seattle Times was still hot off the press when Ruhl Fellow Mark Trahant visited the School of Journalism and Communication in May.

Trahant is one of the founders of The Navajo Times Today, the first Native American journalist to head a major metropolitan daily and, most recently, the editor/publisher of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. He brought his experiences in both the mainstream and Native American media to students in Allen Hall.

"Mark Trahant is one of the most thoughtful, perceptive and committed journalists working today," said Dean Tim Gleason. "In both his writing and his conversation, he quietly cuts through the noise and gets to the important questions. We all benefited greatly from his all-too-brief visit."

Trahant was also publisher of Navajo Nation Today. He served as executive news editor managing the news operations of The Salt Lake Tribune, Utah's largest newspaper. Trahant also was a national-desk reporter at The Arizona Republic.

In May, he moved from the Daily News to a new position as columnist at The Seattle Times. His beat is the West. His first column appeared on May 3. A day later, he addressed students in several journalism classes, including Reporting I and Reporting II, Professor Debra Merskin's class on Women, Minorities and Media, and Professor John Russial's media management class.

"In both his writing and his conversation, he quietly cuts through the noise and gets to the important questions."

In Professor Steve Ponder's Reporting II class, Trahant spoke about expanding the boundaries of traditional public affairs reporting to consider the transformation of the West in terms of population patterns, social changes, the complexity of its environment and the roles of its native peoples.

To media management students, Trahant commented on the blurring between a newspaper's advertising and news goals. He addressed minority hiring issues, corporate ownership and entry-level journalism jobs. Trahant said small newspapers must pay adequate salaries, even if it means having fewer staff members.

"He had much to say about a wide range of issues that cut across management and journalism, and the students really appreciated the perspective of a person who can play well in either league," said Russial. In 1989, he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for a series at The Arizona Republic. He won several awards as a member of the investigative team that worked on the series. Among his many other awards, he won the Elias Boudinot Award for Lifetime Contributions to Journalism from the Native American Journalists Association in 1994. In 1996, he won first place in column and opinion writing from the Utah Society of Professional Journalists. The National Press Foundation in Washington gave him a special citation as editor of the year for his work at the Navajo Times Today in 1987.

Trahant attended Idaho State University. He recently was elected to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Accreditation Council and serves on the National Advisory Board of the Freedom Forum Pacific Coast Center.

The Ruhl Fellowship was made possible by the family of the late Robert W. Ruhl, longtime editor of the Medford Mail Tribune. The annual fellowship, which complements the Ruhl Symposium, brings a journalist to the School to help instill a sense of ethics, responsibility and dedication in future journalists.