“Sometimes [officials] don’t understand, reporting is aggression — civilized, proper, polite, but it’s aggression,” said Ann Devroy (1948-1997).

UW-Eau Claire alumnus Ann Devroy was a fixture in the world of political journalism. Known for her cutthroat persistence and insightful coverage, Devroy has frequently been described as “one of the best journalists to ever cover the White House,” as was stated in a New York Times article published following her death.

Devroy’s legacy lives on through UW-Eau Claire’s Ann Devroy Memorial fellowship, which is awarded to one journalism student each year. The fellowship winner will be announced at the annual Ann Devroy Memorial Forum from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 25 in Schofield Auditorium.

The forum will celebrate Devroy’s life and highlight the impact of her work reporting for The Washington Post. 

Devroy graduated from UW-Eau Claire in 1970 with a degree in journalism. According to an article in The Washington Post, Devroy spent 15 years reporting for The White House for the Gannett Newspapers, USA Today and finally for The Washington Post.

Devroy was “known to have made more than one president squirm”  with her cutthroat reporting and determination to get to the bottom of issues.

Following her death from cancer in 1997, Devroy’s family and colleagues at The Post started the Ann Devroy Memorial Fellowship.

The fellowship includes a scholarship, a three-week-long fellowship at The Washington Post and a paid summer internship at a regional publication.

The event’s featured speaker will be Patrick Marley, a national reporter for The Washington Post. Marley will deliver a talk titled: “Swing State Politics and Election Denialism: The 2024 Presidential Campaign in Wisconsin.”

Prior to working at the Post, Marley spent 18 years at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporting on election laws, redistricting, partisan disputes in the 2020 election and other issues related to Wisconsin and Midwestern politics.

According to the forum’s event page, Marley has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Iowa and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Additionally, Marley is a co-author of the book “More Than They Bargained For: Scott Walker, Unions, and the Fight for Wisconsin” (University of Wisconsin Press, 2013).

Marley currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin and writes for The Post about voting issues and elections in the Upper Midwest. 

Maddie Kasper, third-year journalism and political science student and editor-in-chief at The Spectator, was the recipient of the Devroy Fellowship last year. In January 2024, she spent three weeks as a fellow at The Washington Post. Kasper will be introducing Marley and the next Devroy fellow at the forum.

During the fellowship, Kasper published a story in The Post called “Some college students find it harder to vote under new Republican Laws.”

Kasper said when she began her story, Witte suggested Patrick Marley as a resource.

“I met him over the phone, since he’s based in Madison,” Kasper said. “After talking with Marley, I knew what direction the story was going to go in, so that was really helpful.” 

Kasper said she spent time working on one of The Post’s newsroom floors and had the opportunity to attend a number of democracy and politics meetings.

“It was really a great experience to be able to be in that newsroom as a college student and to get an article published. I’m really grateful to the CJ Department for this opportunity,” Kasper said.

Wojahn can be reached at [email protected].