Nadia White to join full-time print faculty

By Emily Darrell
J-School Web reporter

Photo by Lizz Rauf

Nadia White

With her love of the outdoors, her extensive journalism experience, and her family ties to the UM J-School, Nadia White seems a perfect fit for the print faculty, which she will join full-time this coming fall. White will replace retiring professor Sharon Barrett.

White is excited to teach at the same school and department from which her grandmother and many of her grandmother’s siblings graduated in the 1920s.

“They went there when the school was still in tents,” she said. White’s grandmother, Emily Thrailkill, graduated from UM’s J-School in 1926.

White’s deep connection to the J-School is only one of the reasons she has such great affection for it. “I love its tradition and the strength of its reputation in the region,” she said.

The University received scores of application from across the country for the faculty vacancy. Print chair Carol Van Valkenburg said White was chosen for her “exquisite credentials.” 

“She’s a tough but compassionate teacher,” Van Valkenburg said.  “She is really a first-rate journalist, as well.”

Currently teaching beginning reporting at UM, White is scheduled to teach current events, public affairs reporting and the internship preparation course in the fall, when she begins teaching full-time.

UM student Mark Page, who will be starting in the J-School professional program in the fall, said White is probably the favorite teacher he’s had in the J-School.

“I think Nadia’s fantastic,” Page said. “She’ll give you all the time that she has. If you go to her office after class she’ll work with you on your paper for an hour and a half, if she has it.”

“She’s a cool lady, too,” Page added.

White has an undergraduate degree from Bates College in Maine and a master’s in journalism from Columbia University. She’s worked as a reporter and editor at papers in Maine, Minnesota, Wyoming and Colorado.

Environmental reporting and political issues involving natural resources are her special interests, and she hopes she can teach classes on these issues sometime.

“I think it’ll be exciting to see what classes I’ll take on,” White said.

White is currently “plugging along” on a book on the social history of brucellosis, an infectious livestock disease that can sometimes be passed to humans. She also freelances articles to a variety of newspapers and magazines.

This summer she hopes to get in lots of canoeing, kayaking and bicycle racing — both mountain and road. She likes the outdoor recreation around Missoula — “almost too much,” she said.

White loved the time she spent as an editor. “I really like working with reporters,” she said. “I like helping them be the best that they can be and help them nail their stories down.”

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