Biography: SusanNielsen

Susan Nielsen wrote a Sunday column and served as the editorial board's lead writer on education, the courts and other issues. Before joining The Oregonian in 2001, she worked as an editorial writer and columnist for the Seattle Times and the Vancouver Columbian , and as editor of the Marysville (Washington) Globe .

She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Whitman College and was at one time a deckhand in Alaska and the Caribbean. Nielsen won three first-place national awards for opinion writing and more than a dozen regional and state journalism awards. She lived in Portland with her husband and child.

Listen to Nielsen talk about her background.