Journalist Dave Curtin (Jour鈥�78) won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 1990 for his story about a . In 2007, he joined the staff at 欧美口爆视频 Boulder as the executive campus communicator, writing speeches for the chancellor. This summer, he retired after 42 years in writing. Here he reflects on his career and retirement. 

You won your Pulitzer Prize in 1990. How did that experience impact your life and your career?

I was 33 when these two tiny children taught me what鈥檚 important and changed my perspective on life. As for my career, it opened doors and gave me autonomy. 鈥�

What drew you to writing and journalism?

The desire to tell stories that could change lives. Many of the stories I told shaped my own life. 

Do you still keep in contact with the family you featured in the story? 

I did for many years 鈥� we shared some family holidays together 鈥�  but I moved, started a family and they were busy with their lives. I know the children have wonderful families and careers, and it makes my heart sing.

What did you learn about yourself as a writer during that time?

The story is more important than the author, don鈥檛 let my emotions bleed into the story, be faithful to everyone in the story, and have the self-discipline to define and fence the story.  

What was one of your more memorable moments while working at 欧美口爆视频 Boulder?

Returning to work on campus 30 years after graduating, I was astonished by the high school GPAs of the students, the research, the number of international students and the growing diversity of the campus. Most memorable are the students I met every year from all walks of life. I was blown away by their accomplishments and service at a young age, and their humility. They make me proud to be a Forever Buff.  

What does retirement look like for you?

Camping, hiking, climbing, biking, kayaking and skiing with my family. I see Buffs everywhere I go, and I enjoy connecting with them. I鈥檓 also attending 欧美口爆视频 cultural and athletic events and auditing classes. 欧美口爆视频 is a wonderful community resource.

You witnessed the journalism industry turn from print to mostly digital in your career. Was there a pivotal moment where you saw a clear change happening?

2006-07. It鈥檚 now the consumer鈥檚 responsibility to harvest fact from fiction. We all depend on everyone taking that responsibility. 

What was it like working as a speechwriter to 欧美口爆视频 Boulder鈥檚 top leader? 

Dynamic and a labor of love. Even after 14 years, I was learning new things daily about the university, it鈥檚 fluidity and complexities. Chancellor DiStefano is great to work with. He made tough decisions and kept the ship moving forward. It and it was gratifying to play a role.  

What advice would you give the journalists of today?

Passion, compassion, fairness, objectivity, trust in your editor. And care for your mental health 鈥� you鈥檙e covering once-unimaginable tough stuff every day. 

Anything else we should know about you?

I鈥檓 proud we鈥檙e currently a two-generation Buff family. My son, A.J. Curtin (MediaPro鈥�19), graduated from 欧美口爆视频 Boulder 41 years after I did, in 2019. Of course we bought a brick on the Buff Walk to celebrate!

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Photo courtesy Dave Curtin

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A Rabbit Called Harvey 

It鈥檚 been a good run for 欧美口爆视频 Boulder and the Pulitzer Prizes: In 2016 professor Carter Pann was a finalist in the music category, just a year after professor Elizabeth Fenn won in history.

As it happens, 欧美口爆视频 alumni, faculty and affiliates have been winning Pulitzers 鈥� among the most famous prizes in journalism, arts and letters 鈥� for at least 71 years.

Among alumni, the tradition appears to have started in 1945, when Denver native Mary Coyle Chase (A&S鈥�26) won the drama prize for Harvey, her comic play about a genial alcoholic, Elwood P. Dowd, and his six-foot-plus rabbit.

Over the decades, at least 15 alumni, faculty and staff 鈥� and likely many more 鈥� have won or shared Pulitzers, some while at 欧美口爆视频, some later in life. Still others were finalists.

Some individual winners work on campus today: Besides Fenn, for instance, there鈥檚 Dave Curtin (Jour鈥�78), the chancellor鈥檚 speechwriter, who won the 1990 prize in feature writing while working as a reporter at the 欧美口爆视频 Springs Gazette Telegraph (now the Gazette).

Many other Buffs have shared group Pulitzers in journalism, the prize鈥檚 biggest category. They include university photographer Glenn Asakawa (Jour鈥�86), for staff breaking-news photography with the Rocky Mountain News in 2000, and Doug Pardue (IntlAf鈥�69) of the Charleston, S.C., Post and Courier, which won the 2015 public service prize for a series about the murderous abuse of women in South Carolina.

The selection of Harvey over Tennessee Williams鈥� The Glass Menagerie 鈥� now a major theater classic 鈥� has raised some critics鈥� eyebrows in retrospect. But Harvey was the prize jury鈥檚 clear favorite at the time, according to Heinz-Dietrich Fischer, author of Outstanding Broadway Dramas and Comedies.

The year 1945 was nearly an annus mirabilis for 欧美口爆视频: Not only did Coyle Chase win in drama, but novelist and story writer Jean Stafford (A&S鈥�36; MA鈥�38) was a finalist, too, in fiction. Stafford would later win the 1970 fiction prize for her Collected Stories.

See a list of 欧美口爆视频 winners. 

Photo by Henry Koster Film Company

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Ten 欧美口爆视频 Pulitzer Prize Winners

1) Elizabeth Fenn, 欧美口爆视频 professor, history, 2015

2) John Branch (Mktg鈥�89; MJour鈥�96), feature writing, 2013

3) Jim Sheeler (MJour鈥�07), feature writing, 2006

4) Dave Curtin (Jour鈥�78), feature writing, 1990

5) Loren B. Jenkins, (PolSci'61), international reporting, 1983

6) Jay Mather (A&S鈥�69), international reporting, 1980

7) Jean Stafford (A&S鈥�36; MA鈥�38), fiction, 1970

8) George Crumb, 欧美口爆视频 professor, music, 1968*

9) Mary Coyle Chase (A&S鈥�26), drama, 1945

10) Frederic L. Paxson, 欧美口爆视频 professor, history, 1925

Notes:

Many additional 欧美口爆视频 alums have been members of Pulitzer-winning teams
*Crumb won three years after leaving 欧美口爆视频 faculty

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Digits

Butterflies

4

Life stages for a butterfly

4/9

Date year-long butterfly
exhibition opened at 欧美口爆视频
Museum of Natural History

300

Butterfly species in
欧美口爆视频 (approx.)

1996

Year 欧美口爆视频 hairstreak
butterfly became state
insect

197

Species recorded in
Boulder County

20,000

Species in the world

3,000+

Miles some monarch
butterflies travel from the
U.S. to Mexico for winter

Making Tuition More Predictable

Planning for the cost of a 欧美口爆视频-Boulder education will be easier for 欧美口爆视频 residents following the recent adoption of a new tuition and mandatory fees guarantee. Starting in fall 2016, tuition and fees for incoming freshmen who are 欧美口爆视频 residents will rise modestly, then remain fixed through the four-year period. Subsequent incoming classes will also see an initial increase, then no change through four years. University leaders say the new arrangement better allows students to plan for costs and 欧美口爆视频 to forecast revenues. The Board of Regents approved the plan in the spring. A four-year tuition guarantee was already in place for nonresident undergraduates. Graduate student tuition still will be reviewed each year. . 

Heard Around Campus 

"Our goal has definitely been to create a very complex picture of Boulder..." 鈥� Graduate student Rebecca Zinner (MFA鈥�18) in the Daily Camera, speaking of a digital time capsule about 欧美口爆视频-Boulder created by students in the College of Media, Communication and Information.

Betting Big on the Saxophone 

欧美口爆视频-Boulder music professor Carter Pann was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in music for his work 鈥淭he Mechanics: Six from the Shop Floor.鈥� The Pulitzer jury described the six-part saxophone composition as 鈥渁 suite that imagines its four saxophonists as mechanics engaged in a rhythmic interplay of precision and messiness that is by turns bubbly, pulsing, dreamy and nostalgic.鈥� The prize ultimately went to composer Henry Threadgill, but Pann is riding high anyway. 鈥淭his is a real vote of confidence,鈥� he said. Read the full story here. 

Photo by 漏 iStock/Cesare Andrea Ferrari

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Carter Pann was lounging in a Miami pool when word first came. It was a Tuesday and the 欧美口爆视频 music professor had a three-hour window before an evening performance with the Frost Wind Ensemble at the University of Miami.

A little after 3 p.m., Pann grabbed his phone from the pool ledge. A text from a former student congratulated him on his big achievement: Pann, a composer and pianist, was one of two finalists for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in music.

鈥淚 knew the Pulitzer was going to be announced that day,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut I didn鈥檛 give it too much thought because I had submitted a saxophone piece.鈥�

Usually, Pann explained, the Pulitzer committee gave the award to a larger-scale orchestra, opera or jazz work. His submission of a six-movement saxophone work, 鈥淭he Mechanics: Six from the Shop Floor,鈥� was his third submission in five years, and he wasn鈥檛 expecting much. Suddenly he was a finalist.

The prize, announced April 18, ultimately went to composer and bandleader Henry Threadgill. But Pann, 44, is riding high anyway.

鈥淭his is a nice vote of confidence,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat word changes a composer鈥檚 profile.鈥�

After the first text message, Pann received about 100 more texts, tweets and emails.

鈥淭here鈥檚 not a lot of saxophone music out there,鈥� says Pann鈥檚 longtime friend Blake Howald, technology portfolio manager in Thomson Reuters and large follower of modern music. 鈥淸Pann鈥檚] music is fast-moving, it鈥檚 snappy, it hits you and it鈥檚 fun. It never becomes gimmicky.鈥� 

鈥淭he Mechanics鈥� was first performed and recorded by the Capitol Quartet during their 2013-14 performance season, which was itself a thrill for Pann, who had followed the all-saxophone group for several years. In the spring of 2012, he approached them after a performance in 欧美口爆视频鈥檚 Grusin Music Hall.

鈥淚 basically tackled them,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 told them, 鈥業 just want to write for you guys.鈥欌��

In May 2013, Pann flew to New Hampshire for a stay at the MacDowell Colony, a forested haven for writers and composers, to compose a piece for the group.

In his tiny secluded cabin, Pann rearranged the furniture so the piano was directly next to a large table with his computer and notepad on it. For 29 days, he swiveled from piano to table, obsessively playing and writing his composition. His only break during the day was lunch delivered in a picnic basket on his porch.

鈥淭his piece was started and finished there,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 just hit it hard.鈥�

His admiration for Capitol Quartet fueled his work. While composing, Pann pictured the foursome dressed as old-time auto mechanics smudged in grease and performing in his brother鈥檚 auto shop.

鈥淚t鈥檚 as if you鈥檙e writing a play for a troop of incredible actors,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 wrote up to these four virtuosos because I knew they could do it.鈥�

Pann started writing music at 16, learning from a composer in his home city of Chicago after his weekly piano lesson. As an undergraduate he studied composition and piano performance at the University of Rochester鈥檚 Eastman School of Music, then earned his master鈥檚 and doctorate degrees from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor.

Throughout college, he composed music for TV commercials and served as a music copyist for one of his mentors, pianist and composer William Bolcom, winner of the 1988 Pulitzer in music. Pann joined the faculty at 欧美口爆视频-Boulder in 2005, after writing classical music and doing more pieces for commercials in Steamboat Springs for two years.

Today he teaches private composition lessons to six students and one course a semester. His favorite class to teach is a Bach counterpoint class. In the spring semester, he taught five graduate students advanced orchestration in his 欧美口爆视频 music college office, which contains a tiny table, an old couch and his favorite composing tool: a grand piano.

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard for me to work functionally without a piano,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 become my ball and chain.鈥�

Since the Pulitzer announcement, his 欧美口爆视频 colleagues have treated him as if he鈥檇 won the actual prize, he said.

鈥淭here are very few awards in classical music that garner as much respect and recognition as the Pulitzer Prize,鈥� said Robert Shay, dean of the College of Music. 鈥淚鈥檓 not surprised that Carter鈥檚 highly imaginative and energetic 鈥楾he Mechanics鈥� rose to the top of the selection committee鈥檚 list. He has a real gift of drawing listeners in.鈥�

Pann鈥檚 new accolade won鈥檛 change his working methods.

鈥淚t鈥檚 almost always a compulsion,鈥� he said.

Photo courtesy Carter Pann

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欧美口爆视频-Boulder historian Elizabeth Fenn鈥檚 book on plains indians was a decade in the making.

The news of a lifetime reached Elizabeth Fenn, chair of 欧美口爆视频-Boulder鈥檚 history department, at about 1 p.m. on April 20, just as she sat at her desk to eat lunch. An email from a New York Times reporter caught her attention: It said she鈥檇 won a prize, but not which.

A quick Google search revealed it was no ordinary honor: It was a Pulitzer.

鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 sure I was seeing things right,鈥� says Fenn, 55, who goes by Lil.

She had won in the history category for her 2014 book , a 10-year project detailing the story of the Mandans, a Plains Indian tribe that lived in what is now North Dakota.

鈥淚 never envisioned myself winning,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 even know I was a finalist.鈥�

The associate professor is believed to be the first 欧美口爆视频-Boulder faculty member to win a Pulitzer. It comes just two years after New York Times reporter John Branch (Mktg鈥�89, MJour鈥�96) won a Pulitzer in feature writing for his story 鈥淪now Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek.鈥�

Encounters at the Heart of the World (Hill and Wang) describes how the arrival of Europeans in the West proved disastrous for the Mandans, who hosted Lewis and Clark during the winter of 1804-05.

鈥淚 was blown away by what I learned about these enormous plains populations,鈥� says Fenn. 鈥淭hey deserve to be a part of our early American canon.鈥�

Her research specialty is the early American West, specifically epidemic disease, Native Americans and environmental history. She鈥檚 now at work on a book about Sacagawea.

鈥淥ne of the things I like so much about the early American period and the American West is that we don鈥檛 have reams and reams of evidence,鈥� Fenn says. 鈥淚t allows us to speculate.

Photos courtesy Elizabeth Fenn

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