Huxley's Dietrich set to retire in June

After serving as “The Planet” magazine’s adviser for the past five academic years, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and New-York Times bestselling author William Dietrich will be leaving Western Washington University at the end of spring quarter.

After working for years as a novelist and as a reporter for The Seattle Times, Dietrich was approached by WWU’s Huxley College of the Environment and was offered the position of adviser for the student-produced, environmental journalism publication. Already familiar with the award-winning magazine, Dietrich accepted and returned to his alma mater as a half-time instructor in the fall of 2006.

Although Dietrich’s time at WWU will be ending at the end of exactly five academic years, he says his leaving was not based on a contract but rather an accumulation of events that have lead him to the conclusion that it is now the right time to say goodbye to the university. If he continued at WWU, he would be applying for tenure next year, which is a time-consuming process for both the applicant and the university. Between that, commuting to work from Anacortes, some minor health issues, and – most prominently – the growth of his fiction writing career, Dietrich decided that the time he would be able to dedicate to teaching in the future would likely begin receding.

When asked what the most rewarding part of working here at WWU has been for him, “Getting to work with so many great students,” is his answer without hesitation.

Bringing his years of professional journalism experience into the classroom, he has been able to teach his students the skills necessary to achieve newsroom success.

“I’ve been so impressed with how the students on The Planet’s staff have taken responsibility and run with it from year to year,” he says.

Along with the legacy of the magazine, he will also leave to WWU the gift of “Green Fire.” His fourteenth book, “Green Fire” is a written history and commemoration of Huxley, arguably the world’s first environmental college. The project began three years ago, with the original prospective release date being June of 2010, when the college celebrated its 40th birthday. Although that mark was missed by a year, the debut of the book next month will share with its readers an abundance of valuable historic information. With a timeline, more than 170 photos and 40 graduate profiles, the book will cover the triumphs and conflicts the diverse college has faced since its birth in 1970. Written and designed by students, staff and alumni, the collaborative narrative will be the first of its kind, the only book written about a subdivision of the university. It is scheduled to be released on June 11, with a reading at Village Books in Fairhaven at 7 p.m. June 21.

Beyond his literary commitments to the university, Dietrich will have his 15th book, “Blood of the Reich,” released on June 28. Combining both historical and present day time frames with locations from Skagit County to Tibet, the book is what Dietrich called his “most intricate novel,” according to his website, williamdietrich.com. He has another novel due for release in 2012, and often finds himself working on non-fiction writing projects as well.

Though he came to teach at WWU with a professional writing background, Dietrich says there are definitely aspects of his role as a staff member here that have reflected into other aspects of his life. Helping guide student reporters has re-taught Dietrich the importance of analyzing a story and its structure, and lecturing to a class has helped him become a more affective public speaker.

“Teaching really makes you figure out how you do what you do,” he says of breaking down the publication process into student-friendly steps. “Teaching here at WWU and being a student here have proved to be very different for me.”

As the quarter winds down, Dietrich says he looks forward to having more free time, and particularly more time to dedicate to his steady writing career. But when asked what he will miss about the university, he pauses, and then assertively responds, “I will miss my interaction with students more than anything. Fun, energetic, vigorous, beautiful – all of those things that students are – I will miss.”