Q&A with 2025 Harold L. Nelson Award Winner Gerald Baldasty

Gerald Baldasty is a professor emeritus in Communication at the University of Washington. Baldasty served as a faculty member at Washington from 1978 until his retirement from full-time teaching and administrative roles in 2019. His research and teaching focused on journalism history, with an emphasis on the politics and business of U.S. mass media in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He is the author of numerous research articles and three books: Commercialization of News in the Nineteenth Century, E. W. Scripps and the Business of Newspapers, and Vigilante Newspapers: A Tale of Sex, Religion & Murder in the Northwest. He also served as associate editor and then senior editor of Journalism History from 1992 until 2001.

From 1994 to 2001, he was a member of the Accreditation Review Committee of the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, After earning his B.A. degree in Communications at the University of Washington, Baldasty came to Madison to earn his M.A. degree in 1974. His thesis adviser was Harold L. (Bud) Nelson. He received his Ph.D. in 1978 from the University of Washington.

In 2000, Baldasty received the University of Washington’s Distinguished Teaching Award and has held several administrative posts at the University of Washington, including chair of the Department of Communication, Dean of the Graduate School, Senior Vice Provost for Academic and Student Affairs, and finally, Provost and Executive Vice President. Since retiring in 2019, Baldasty has help direct and teach in study abroad programs in León, Spain. He and his spouse, University of Washington professor emeritus Randal A. Beam, established and continue to direct an undergraduate internship program for UW students in León where interns work in local Spanish businesses, nonprofits and governmental agencies.

What does this award mean to you?

I am deeply honored by this award, especially because it’s named for Harold (Bud) Nelson, who was my master’s thesis adviser in the SJMC. Bud was a brilliant historian and a superb mentor, so receiving an award named for him is a very big honor.

I am also a bit overwhelmed by this honor. I was a working-class kid from Spokane, Washington, and at Madison, I had mentors who helped me overcome my own self doubts so that I could learn and excel. And that was a huge part of my learning curve. The faculty of SJMC helped me grow, and for that, I am enormously grateful.

I have a sense of deep gratitude for people who mentored me, Bud Nelson, Jack McLeod, Bill Blankenberg and Mary Ann Yodelis-Smith. This reward reminds me of how important my experience at SJMC has been for my career and life.

What has been keeping you busy since your time in the SJMC?

I completed my master’s degree in 1974. Since then, I have been at the University of Washington (what Badgers might call the “other UW”). I did my PhD at the University of Washington, completing it in 1978. I joined the faculty there that autumn, and was a faculty member until my retirement in 2019. I taught thousands of students over the years, mentored graduate students and wrote three books and many research articles. I also have done a lot of bicycling and hiking.

What are you focused on right now?

I helped to establish an undergraduate internship program for University of Washington students in northern Spain – in the city of León, where the University of Washington has a study-abroad center. Student interns spend 10-11 weeks working for local businesses, nonprofits, foundations or agencies. So that still takes my time and attention.

My spouse (Randal Beam, Wisconsin SJMC PhD alumnus) and I spend about five months a year in Spain. I continue to study Spanish. My ultimate goal is to be able to go to the movies in Spain and fully understand a Spanish-language film. I also enjoy exploring Spain, and I’ve started doing some photography of interesting architecture (churches, palacios, houses, doors and so on). It’s fun.

What is the most valuable lesson you learned in the SJMC?

I learned how to do research, from start to finish, from identifying the original idea to the final product. That entails a lot – project design, identification of clear goals, gathering information, organization and time management, analyzing and synthesizing information and presenting it.

I was not terribly adept at this when I left SJMC, but I had a really good start – and a roadmap for the research career that I would pursue over the next 40+ years. It was probably always a work in progress, but the faculty at SJMC launched me on that trajectory.

What is your favorite memory from the SJMC?

On Saturdays, graduate students and faculty who happened to be working in Vilas Hall went out to lunch to Ella’s Deli. [Emeritus professors] Jack McLeod and Steve Chaffee, and graduate students such as Al Tims, Jane Brown, Lee Becker, Dean Ziemke joined in. There was of course a social element to our lunches, but we also talked about our efforts to think broadly about mass communication.

There was a wonderful community of students and faculty, of people who wanted to learn and to do really high-quality work. Being part of that “community” was transformative for me.

What was your favorite study spot on campus?

The Wisconsin State Historical Society. I all but lived there when I was doing research for my master’s thesis. It’s a great place with great resources, but also just a great place to think and study,

Who is the SJMC professor who had the most profound impact on your career, why?

I went to Wisconsin SJMC to study with Harold (Bud) Nelson. My undergraduate mentor was a former classmate of Bud’s from their Minnesota days. I was enormously fortunate that Bud agreed to be my thesis adviser. From him I learned a great deal about how to do research in journalism history. I spent my professional life doing journalism history research, and Bud helped me acquire the analytical organizational skills needed to make worthwhile contributions to the field. He also demonstrated, by his actions, how a mentor can guide students, which helped me in mentoring my own students over the years.

I was also fortunate to have several other mentors at Madison SJMC: Jack McLeod, Bill Blankenberg and Mary Ann Yodelis-Smith. They were incredibly smart people who taught me about journalism and mass communication, about research, and about being good teacher. They were great role models.

Two more senior SJMC graduate students, Hazel Dicken-Garcia and Carolyn Stewart-Dyer, were also wonderful mentors and life-long colleagues.