IOP Remembers Senior Advisory Board Member Gwen Ifill

The Harvard Institute of Politics was saddened yesterday by the passing of our longtime friend Gwen Ifill. Ifill was the best of the best in journalism and served as a role model for generations of people forging their lives in politics and public service.

We cherish the laughter and stories Ifill brought to the IOP through the years. Ifill served on the Senior Advisory Board Committee of the IOP from 1999 to 2010.  She spoke in the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum on several occasions, including receiving the Goldsmith Award in 2009. Ifill participated in the IOP’s Campaign Decision Makers Conference in both 2008 and 2012 as a moderator to analyze the presidential elections in the nonpartisan manner she did best.

“Gwen was an outstanding friend and Senior Advisory Board member to the Institute of Politics. Over the years, she inspired and encouraged hundreds of our students with her commitment to public service and to a fair and open press,” said Ken Duberstein, chair of the Institute of Politics Senior Advisory Board Committee. “Gwen was no nonsense and called them as she saw them. She was an extraordinary person and will be deeply missed by the entire IOP community.”

Join us in remembering Ifill’s contributions to the IOP, including her inspiring 2009 address about her career in journalism.

 

Watch Gwen Ifill's remarkable speech about journalism, politics, and her career at the 2009 Goldsmith Awards here. A full transcript is also available.

Ifill moderated at the 2012 Campaign Decision Makers Conference. Watch her thoughts on the 2012 presidential election here.

I also learned how to treat race as an advantage, instead of as a burden. It meant I saw things other reporters didn’t see, talked to people other reporters wouldn’t talk to and told the stories that others could not. It turned out that being underestimated had its up sides.
— Gwen Ifill, March 17, 2009