Department Professor Carolyn Curiel (left) and Thompson at a reception

Department alumnus Ginger Thompson, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for The New York Times, was honored this semester as a 2011 College of Liberal Arts Distinguished Alumnus.

Thompson, B.A., 1986, was honored in a ceremony April 8 on campus. Thompson credited former department professor Dave Nelson with helping her recover her dream of writing for a profession. Thompson had abandoned those dreams when she arrived at Purdue in favor of a degree in computer technology, a career her family thought would provide her with more financial stability.

After a stressful freshmen year that included a stint in the hospital, she enrolled in Nelson's journalism course her sophomore year. It was then she decided to change her major to her first love.

"Purdue remains important to me because it was the place where I learned who I wanted to be, personally and professionally, and that gave me the skills and the confidence to get there," she said.

Today, Thompson works in the Washington, D.C., bureau of the Times as a general assignment reporter on enterprise and investigative stories. She has been with the Times for more than 15 years, including a stint as the newspaper's Mexico bureau chief. She was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for her series "How Race is Lived in America."