Paula Dobbyn 79F Appointed Science and Environmental Journalism Chair at the University of Alaska

After graduating, Paula Dobbyn 79F launched a journalism career rooted in curiosity, risk taking, and global engagement. She now holds a three-year appointment as Snedden Chair at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where she teaches, advises the student newspaper, and develops curriculum in environmental journalism.

We spoke with her about her path after Hampshire, the power of international experience, and the lessons she carries from her time on campus.

What drew you to Hampshire? 

I attended a private, all-girls Catholic school in Manhattan and was looking for something entirely different. I was attracted by Hampshire’s emphasis on student-led education and saw it as a place where I could design my own independent course of study in collaboration with my academic advisor. Hampshire’s location, in the Pioneer Valley, and as part of the Five College Consortium also made it extremely attractive. In addition, Hampshire offered me a generous financial-aid package, which, as a first-generation American from a working-class Irish immigrant family, made attending a private liberal arts college an affordable reality.

What did you study? Did that evolve during your time here? 

I concentrated on political theory, sociology, and Latin American studies. My Division III explored the interplay of socialism and parliamentary democracy in the Salvador Allende administration in Chile and the 1973 overthrow of the regime in a U.S.-backed coup.

Did your Hampshire experience influence the work you’re doing now? If so, how? 

In 1984, a year after graduating, I made my way to Nicaragua, which was in the throes of the Sandinista revolution while defending itself against a U.S.-supported proxy war. I had intended to stay just for a month and then attend graduate school to pursue a Ph.D. in political theory. But the political events unfolding in Nicaragua were fascinating, and I ended up becoming a journalist and living in Managua for four years. 

"Hampshire offered me a generous financial-aid package, which, as a first-generation American from a working-class Irish immigrant family, made attending a private liberal arts college an affordable reality."

Tell us about what led up to your current job.

I moved to Alaska in 1994 to take a reporter job at a public radio station in Juneau. That was after working in radio news for a number of years in Boston and Washington, D.C., upon my return from Nicaragua. Alaska has vast tracts of public land as well as diverse species of fish and wildlife. There’s no shortage of intense fights brewing over management of those lands and animals, so I ended up focusing heavily on environmental and natural resources reporting. This was also during the era of massive clearcut logging in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest and on Alaska Native corporate lands.

I ended up becoming an environmental reporter at KTOO-FM, which led me to the University of Colorado, Boulder, where I was awarded an environmental journalism fellowship. I subsequently became a reporter at the Anchorage Daily News and more recently at a nonprofit online news service in Hawaii called Honolulu Civil Beat. I returned to Alaska last fall when I was appointed to this position.

Any faculty of particular inspiration?

Professor Emerita of Sociology Margaret Cerullo and Professor Emerita of Politics Carol Bengelsdorf 72F were my main academic advisors and inspired me to explore Nicaragua post-graduation. As an impressionable student, I wanted to carve out a career like theirs after graduating from Hampshire.

Did you attend graduate school?

The journalism bug bit pretty hard, so it took me many years to actually go to graduate school. I finally did so in my mid-40s. Taking a break from journalism, I enrolled in a cross-border master’s degree program run by Queen’s University Belfast and National University of Ireland Galway (now called University of Galway, located in the Republic of Ireland). I obtained my LL.M. (master of laws and letters) in international human rights law in 2007, with a dissertation on gender-based violence in post-conflict societies.

I then had the opportunity to spend four months in East Timor working for an Irish humanitarian aid agency doing media development and training. I’m a journalist at heart, though, so rather than pursuing a career shift into international development, I returned to the newsroom. I joined the digital news team at a local television station and later when my daughters were young, did stints in public relations.

What advice would you give to a student considering Hampshire? 

Follow your passion. Don’t be afraid to take risks. Find a way to spend significant time abroad either during your Hampshire years or soon after, before you get bogged down with adult responsibilities. Several of my Hampshire friends, who are still among my closest buddies, moved overseas or traveled the world after graduation. None of us regret it. Living outside your familiar circumstances broadens your horizons and will lead to new, unimaginable opportunities that will enrich you throughout your life.