National News Correspondent

(CBS) Hattie Kauffman is the National News Correspondent for The Early Show based in Los Angeles.

Kauffman's is a familiar face to viewers of morning news programs. On CBS This Morning, she was Senior Correspondent for more than two years, and frequently filled in for vacationing anchors. She first joined This Morning as a correspondent in March 1990.

Her unique style of reporting human interest stories has earned her acclaim throughout her career. As national correspondent, she headed up the broadcast's consumer affairs unit, providing viewers with useful information to assist them in making better consumer choices. In that capacity, she has investigated a sunken treasure hunting firm, gone to a women's shooting range for a series on home security and taken part in a federal sting operation on an auto service station that did unnecessary repairs.
An Emmy Award-winning reporter, Kauffman has covered a variety of subjects from breaking news to features on newsmakers to stories on people and places that don't often make headlines. She has reported on the residents of the Hawaiian leper colony of Kalaupapa and a woman in Holland who wanted to be a candidate for euthanasia. During the War in the Persian Gulf, she reported on the human side of the crisis from major military installations around the United States.

Kauffman has also shown her adventurous side during her reporting on unique vacation ideas. As a part of her five-part series, "Something Wild," Kauffman went rock climbing, white-water rafting and race car driving. Her second series that featured venturous escapes, "Something Wild," showcased Kauffman scuba diving with dolphins, ski jumping and luging in Lake Placid, New York and riding rodeo-style in Texas.

Prior to joining CBS Kauffman was a reporter for "Good Morning America" from May 1987 to March 1990. Previously, she was a reporter and anchor at KING-TV in Seattle, Washington. She joined KING-TV in 1981 as a reporter and was promoted to weekend anchor in 1983. During her tenure in Seattle, Kauffman earned four Emmy Awards for her work.

A Pacific Northwest Native, Kauffman became the first Native American journalist to report on a national broadcast in 1989.

She received a B.S. degree from the University of Minnesota, where she also attended the Graduate School of Journalism under a WCCO-TV Minorities in Broadcasting Scholarship. Her on-air broadcasting career began on Minneapolis radio while she attended college.