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Natalie Allison ’13, a national award-winning journalist and ���ϲ����� alumna, whose career has taken her from covering Burlington local news to national politics, including the re-election of President-elect Donald Trump, is set to join The Washington Post’s White House reporting team on Jan. 27.

“I’m looking forward to the new challenge of covering the White House. What an honor. It’s the kind of job newspaper reporters dream of,” said Allison, who graduated with a degree in journalism in 2013. “I worked really hard to get here and I’m excited to learn a new beat.”

In a , The Washington Post leadership called Allison “a resourceful and energetic reporter who has distinguished herself with insightful coverage of Donald Trump’s political movement,” noting she will “join a team dedicated to producing best-in-the-business coverage of the incoming administration, with journalism that is rigorous, revealing and dedicated to holding power to account.”

Allison’s interest in journalism began in high school on ���ϲ�����’s campus – with a visit to the university’s broadcast studio for a high school project.

“I remember walking into the studio and just thinking ‘Wow, I could do this as a job, this could be really cool, to go into news,’” said Allison, a native of ���ϲ�����, North Carolina. “I was hooked from the moment I first walked into McEwen.”

When looking at colleges, she chose ���ϲ����� for the School of Communications, coming to the university as a Communications Fellow, becoming managing editor of The Pendulum and a student worker in the Office of University Communications.

“That was real-world experience that helped me before I graduated from ���ϲ�����,” said Allison. “A lot of my time at ���ϲ����� was spent working in the field that I’m currently in and ���ϲ����� was really flexible in making sure that I was able to do all of that.”

“I’m looking forward to the new challenge of covering the White House. What an honor. It’s the kind of job newspaper reporters dream of.”

– Natalie Allison ’13

Several months before she graduated early at age 19, Allison continued getting real-world experience, becoming a night copy editor for the Burlington Times-News and soon working her way to be a full-time police reporter. Allison then relocated to Nashville, Tennessee to work as an evening breaking news reporter for the Tennessean. But she also carved out a side beat covering white supremacist activity – about the first white supremacist rally following the Charlottesville, Virginia “Unite the Right” event. Her path into political journalism began when she was assigned to cover the Tennessee legislature.

“That was a really big honor and a career change that set me on the course of eventually coming to D.C. and not just covering state politics but covering politics at a national level and covering the most powerful people in the country,” she said.

Her led to the state House speaker resigning amid a scandal around bribery and kickback charges. In 2021, she and a team of Gannett reporters won the grand prize from the for their project “Confederate Reckoning,” a multimedia series exploring the remnant of the confederacy in the American South.

“Natalie represents the best of the press – a reporter who knows her First Amendment rights, scrupulously gets at the truth and reveals wrongdoing regardless of the consequences. The Washington Post is fortunate to get her,” said Anthony Hatcher, professor of journalism and chair of the Journalism Department. “She will no doubt continue the excellent work she’s been doing for the past dozen years since graduation.”

Hatcher is one of the many ���ϲ����� faculty members Allison credits with helping her reach this career milestone including Kenn Gaither, dean of the School of Communication; David Copeland, professor emeritus; Colin Donahue, director of student engagement and special projects and instructor of journalism and Janna Anderson, professor of journalism. Allison’s time at ���ϲ����� also included a Winter Term study abroad program to Europe: “Gutenberg to the Web: Media’s Impact on Western Civilization.”

“Janna Anderson’s ‘Reporting for the Public Good’ class was one class that really made an impact on me as a reporter, learning how to be aggressive and persistent,” said Allison. “She taught us the importance of shoe leather reporting, going out there and knocking on doors. That’s what I did in my first newspaper job and that’s what I carried with me when I moved to the Tennessean. There are fewer physical doors I’m knocking on in Washington, D.C. but the principle still stands that you have to be persistent.”

“Natalie represents the best of the press – a reporter who knows her First Amendment rights, scrupulously gets at the truth and reveals wrongdoing regardless of the consequences. The Washington Post is fortunate to get her.”

– Anthony Hatcher, professor of journalism and chair of the Journalism Department

For the past three years, Allison has worked for Politico in Washington, D.C. – covering President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign, including his New York hush money trial and the wider .

“I’m really proud of how I’ve been able to chronicle some of the changes that have happened in the Republican Party,” Allison said. “I was covering the presidential race when some people were still under the impression that Republicans other than Trump stood a shot at being the nominee. How far we’ve come since then, where Republicans and even people outside the Republican party now couldn’t imagine anyone besides Trump being in that role.”