Noted beltway journalist Ifill to address ‘Politics, Policy and Reality’

Event Information:
Date: Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010
Time: 4 p.m.
Place: Weasler Auditorium
          1506 W. Wisconsin Ave.

‘Washington Week’ moderator’s speech is part of Centennial Celebration of Women

Political journalist Gwen Ifill will deliver the annual Nieman Lecture at Marquette University Thursday, Feb. 4. The author and Washington Week moderator and managing editor will address “Politics, Policy and Reality: What’s Really Going on in Washington” at 4 p.m. in the Tony and Lucille Weasler Auditorium, 1506 W. Wisconsin Ave. The speech is free and open to the public, and a book signing will follow the lecture. No registration or tickets are required.

Ifill’s visit is part of Marquette’s Centennial Celebration of Women. In 1909, Marquette became the first Catholic university in the world to offer coeducation as part of its regular undergraduate program.

“We’re thrilled to have the distinguished journalist and best-selling author Gwen Ifill as this spring’s Neiman lecturer,” said Bonnie S. Brennen, Nieman Chair and professor of journalism in the J. William and Mary Diederich College of Communication. “Her background makes her uniquely qualified to discuss contemporary political issues.”

The Nieman Chair and lecture series was endowed in honor of Lucius W. Nieman, who founded the Milwaukee Journal in 1882 at age 24 and served as the paper’s long-time editor-in-chief.

In addition to her role at Washington Week, Ifill is senior correspondent for the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and is also frequently asked to moderate debates in national elections, most recently the vice presidential debate in 2008.

In 2009, Washington Week with Gwen Ifill was honored with the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award. Ifill joined NBC News from The New York Times where she covered the White House and politics. She is the author of The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.

She has received more than a dozen honorary doctorates and is the recipient of several broadcasting excellence awards, including honors from the National Press Foundation, Ebony Magazine, the Radio Television News Directors Association and American Women in Radio and Television.

A native of New York City and a graduate of Simmons College in Boston, Ifill serves on the board of the Harvard University Institute of Politics, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Newseum and the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism.

Media interested in attending Ifill’s lecture should contact Christopher Stolarski in the Office of Marketing and Communication at (414) 288-1988 or christopher.stolarski@marquette.edu. Limited interview time is available just prior to the speech.