Ted Scripps Environmental Fellowships
Funded by his daughter, Cindy Scripps,
the Ted Scripps Fellowships in Environmental Journalism at the
With seminars and field trips, the program brings participants together with leading environmental specialists. This helps journalists better understand key environmental issues, but it also helps the scientific community better understand the media and the way journalists work.
Laura Frank was an investigative reporter at the Rocky Mountain News until it closed in February. While there, she worked on multipart stories on Colorado's natural gas rush and the U.S. government's empty promise to provide medical aid to nuclear workers. Both projects earned top awards from the Colorado Associated Press Editors and Reporters. Frank also has worked at The Tennessean in Nashville, Tenn., the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y., USA Today and the Gannett News Service. She is a Denver native and has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Illinois.
Michael Kodas is author of the book "High Crimes: The Fate of Everest in an Age of Greed." A veteran journalist with more than 20 years of experience, he formerly worked as a staff photographer, picture editor and writer at the Hartford Courant, as well as at newspapers and magazines in Kansas. He won the top prize in nonfiction from the National Best Books 2008 Awards presented by USA Book News, and first place for a self-illustrated story in the Lowell Thomas Awards of the Society of American Travel Writers. In 1999 he was a member of the team at the Hartford Courant that won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage of the murder of executives of the Connecticut Lottery. He holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, Columbia.
Suzie Lechtenberg is a freelance public radio producer who has worked with American Public Media, Public Radio International and National Public Radio. She got her start at KPCC/Southern California Public Radio. Her recent stories include a piece about hot rod cars for "Studio 360" and a story about American soldiers reflecting on their first and last days of combat in Iraq for "Weekend America." As a journalist, Lechtenberg says she is "interested in reporting on how people interact with the environment, and the environmental repercussions of human activity." She has a bachelor's degree in American Studies from the University of Kansas.
Jim Mimiaga is a staff reporter at Four Corners Free Press, a news magazine in Cortez, Colo., where he writes about environmental issues, tribal politics and outdoor recreation. He is currently working on a book with photographer John Fielder. He also has worked at the Cortez Journal, Inside/Outside Southwest Magazine, The Durango Telegraph, Independent Native News and The Southern Ute Drum newspaper. He recently covered the reintroduction of wolves along the New Mexico-Arizona border and the return of condors to the Grand Canyon. He has won several awards in news and photography from the Society of Professional Journalists and Colorado Press Association. He has a bachelor's degree in political science from Fort Lewis College.
Anne Minard is a freelance science journalist whose work has appeared in National Geographic News, The New York Times, the Los Angles Times, Science, Scientific American and High Country News. Her first book, "Pluto and Beyond: A Story of Discovery, Adversity, and Ongoing Education," was published in 2007 and she is a contributing author on two others. Minard formerly worked as the science reporter for the Arizona Daily Star; editor of Mountain Living Magazine; health and science reporter for the Arizona Daily Sun; and environmental reporter for the Idaho State Journal. She has received many honors, including first place in environmental reporting from the Arizona Associated Press Managing Editor's Association and a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for her radio journalism. Minard has a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and a master's degree in biology from Northern Arizona University.
For more information about the program, contact Len Ackland, co-director of the Center for Environmental Journalism, University of Colorado at 303-492-0459, ackland@colorado.edu or www.colorado.edu/journalism/cej/cej/scripps_fellowships/index.html