A Year After Legendary Journalist Gwen Ifill's Death, Alma Mater Names School In Her Honor

Simmons College will launch the Gwen Ifill College of Media, Arts and Humanities to commemorate the pioneering "PBS NewsHour" anchor.
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WASHINGTON ― Veteran journalist Gwen Ifill, who died of cancer last year at the age of 61, will be honored by her alma mater.

Simmons College, the liberal arts college in Boston where Ifill graduated in 1977, is naming a school after her, the college announced Tuesday on the first anniversary of her death.

The Gwen Ifill College of Media, Arts and Humanities will launch next July. Ifill’s family will donate memorabilia to the school, including documents, honorary degrees and the blazers she wore when she moderated the 2004 and 2008 vice presidential debates, according to Boston’s WBUR.

Ifill, along with her “PBS NewsHour” co-anchor Judy Woodruff, were the first women to co-host a nightly news program. Before joining PBS in 1999, Ifill spent years covering politics for The New York Times, The Washington Post and NBC News — often one of few, if any, black women in those newsrooms.

Gwen Ifill moderating the 2008 vice presidential debate with Republican candidate Sarah Palin and Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
Gwen Ifill moderating the 2008 vice presidential debate with Republican candidate Sarah Palin and Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
Pool via Getty Images

“The kind of unimpeded curiosity Gwen brought to her work, coupled with her warmth, integrity and commitment to truth-telling, is something all of our students aspire to ― no matter what field of study they pursue. We are extraordinarily proud of her and so pleased to formalize her legacy at Simmons this way,” the college’s president, Helen Drinan, said in a statement.

“I can think of no more fitting honor for her work,” Ifill’s cousin Sherrilyn Ifill, a prominent civil rights attorney, tweeted on Tuesday morning.

Earlier this week, “PBS NewsHour” staff commemorated Ifill by participating in a cycling class and donating the proceeds to cancer research.

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