Chicago Tribune Chief Economic Correspondent To Visit

Pat Widder, chief economic correspondent for the Chicago Tribune

Pat Widder, chief economic correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and the newspaper’s former financial editor, will serve as this semester’s business writer in residence at UW–Madison April 28-May 2.

A native of Oshkosh, Wis., Widder graduated from UW–Madison in 1969 with a degree in Russian studies.

She works in the Tribune’s Washington bureau as chief economic correspondent, a post she assumed in March. The previous three years she was associate managing editor for financial news.

Widder first came to the Tribune in 1975 after working as a reporter for several community papers in the San Francisco Bay area. She first reported for the supplement Suburban Trib and became a financial reporter in 1981. She moved to New York City in 1987 to report on Wall Street and returned to Chicago in 1992 as national business correspondent. A year later she was promoted to associate managing editor.

Widder’s residency is part of the ongoing Business Writer in Residence program, sponsored by the university’s School of Business, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and Office of News and Public Affairs, with support from the UW Foundation. Widder will speak to classes in journalism and business, as well as consult individually with students, during her visit.