Two UW-Madison graduates land Pulitzer Prizes
A pair of University of Wisconsin–Madison graduates — David Umhoefer, a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and Walt Bogdanich, a New York Times reporter and editor — won Pulitzer Prizes in journalism on Monday.
Umhoefer’s exhaustive coverage detailing pension deals for Milwaukee County workers landed him journalism’s top honor in the local reporting category. Umhoefer built his own database to show how tax laws were skirted to pad the pensions of county employees.
“We’re really pleased that David, who’s been dogged in his coverage of local government in Milwaukee, has been recognized as one of the nation’s top reporters,” says James Baughman, director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. “His achievement reminds us again of journalism’s possibilities.”
Umhoefer has covered local government and elections in Milwaukee for 21 years and is the recipient of a variety of national, state and local reporting awards. Before joining the newspaper’s Watchdog Team as the local government investigative reporter, he served as county government reporter for five years.
For Bogdanich, an investigative reporter and editor at the Times, it is his third Pulitzer Prize. He shares the 2008 award with The Times’ Jake Hooker in the investigative reporting category for their stories on toxic ingredients in medicine and other everyday products imported from China, leading to crackdowns by Chinese and American officials.
Umhoefer graduated in 1983 with a degree in journalism, while Bogdanich is a 1975 graduate in political science who also took classes in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He went on to obtain a master’s degree in journalism from Ohio State University.
Both served as editors at the Daily Cardinal student newspaper during their campus careers.
“We’re thrilled for Walt, and delighted that one of our graduates has distinguished himself, not just once, but three times, by winning the Pulitzer Prize,” says John Coleman, chair and professor of political science.
Bogdanich spent time on the UW–Madison campus in the fall of 2006 as part of the university’s Public Affairs Writer in Residence program.
Bogdanich also won the award in 2005, for a series on how the nation’s politically connected railroads failed to take responsibility for fatal accidents. The series disclosed unusually close ties between the industry and its regulators. In 1988, he won a Pulitzer for his articles in the Wall Street Journal on substandard medical labs.
