Mark Trahant is an independent journalist. He serves as the 20th Atwood Chair of Journalism at the University of Alaska Anchorage. The position brings nationally known journalists to teach courses and speak to students, journalists and the public in Alaska.

He is also writing a book on austerity, a project he started after winning a Rockefeller Foundation residency to the Bellagio Center on Lake Como, Italy. He blogs about austerity on a regular basis on his web page, trahantreports.com, and on Facebook.

Trahant reports and comments on events and trends via Twitter and other social media. Every day for nearly six years, Trahant has written a 140-character rhyme based on a daily news story (@newsrimes4lines). He’s been a reporter for PBS’ Frontline series. The Frontline piece, “The Silence,” was about sexual abuse by priests in a Alaska native village. He also has been editor-in-residence at the University of Idaho in the spring of 2011 and again in 2012. He taught courses on social media, the American West and editorial writing.

In 2009 and 2010 Trahant was a Kaiser Media Fellow writing about health care reform focused on programs the government already operates, such as the Indian Health Service.

Trahant also recently completed The Last Great Battle of the Indian Wars, the story about the legacy of Sen. Henry M. Jackson. “Scoop” Jackson and Forrest J. Gerard. Trahant is the former editor of the editorial page for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer where he chaired the daily editorial board, directed a staff of writers, editors and a cartoonist.

Trahant is a member of Idaho’s Shoshone-Bannock Tribe and former president of the Native American Journalists Association.

Mark Trahant, Atwood Journalism Chair