Ellen Hale

Ellen Hale (’72) was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006.

Ellen Hale became AP’s director of corporate communications in 2004 and was named a vice president this year. She has 30 years of experience as a reporter, including extensive postings abroad and coverage of medical and science issues.

Prior to joining the Associated Press, Ellen was London correspondent for USA Today where in addition to developing enterprise stories for all five sections of the newspaper, she anchored European coverage of the war on terrorism. She also covered the ailing John Paul II from Rome.

Following graduation in 1972 and a stint with the UA News Service, Ellen began her career (as many Wildcat Hall of Famers have) at the Tucson Citizen. As her career advanced, Ellen held a number of positions with Gannett News Service, including national medical correspondent (Gannett’s first one), national environmental correspondent, and national correspondent based in San Francisco. She also launched the Gannett News Service’s weekly medical and science page.

In 1985 Ellen traveled around the world writing about AIDS and reporting from the US, Haiti, Africa, Europe and Asia for a continuing series called “AIDS: A Killer Stalks the Globe.” This work earned her the Overseas Press Club’s Hal Boyle Award for Outstanding Reporting from Abroad. She also reported extensively on global population and environmental issues and, when the Soviet Union started to fall apart, covered the tragic environmental legacy of Communism, reporting from Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine.

Awarded a Knight Journalism fellowship in 1993, Ellen studied creative writing and the economic costs of environmental protection at Stanford. Before joining USA Today, she was deputy managing editor/features for Gannett’s suburban Westchester Rockland newspaper group.

In 1989, Ellen was named one of the 100 outstanding graduates of the UA at its centennial celebration.