SJC Welcomes Veteran Journalist and Author Gwen Ifill

September 08, 2009

PATCHOGUE AND BROOKLYN, NY September 9, 2009 St. Josephs College is pleased to announce that it will hold its Sixth Annual Presidential Lecture on Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. in the DEcclesiis Auditorium located in OConnor Hall on its Long Island Campus. Moderator and managing editor of Washington Week and senior correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Gwen Ifill will serve as this years featured speaker and deliver a lecture entitled: "Politics, Policy and Reality: Whats Really Going on in Washington. This is event is free and open to the public.

Author of the book The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, which was published on Inauguration Day 2009, Ifill moderated the 2004 and 2008 Vice Presidential debates. Before joining PBS, she spent five years as chief congressional and political correspondent at NBC News, where she still makes occasional appearances as roundtable panelist on Meet The Press.

A highly respected veteran journalist, Ifills career began in print media covering politics and government for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Evening Sun and The Boston Herald American. Ifill is the recipient of more than a dozen honorary doctorates as well as several broadcasting excellence awards. Most recently, she received the George Foster Peabody award in April 2009.

Now in its sixth year, the Annual Presidential Lecture Series was established to further the educational goals of the College and to support its mission: Esse non videri: "To be, not to seem. Each year, St. Josephs will host a distinguished member of public life with experience, knowledge and perspectives that will challenge the College as an academic community and the community at large as citizens in the 21st century. The annual series will reflect the liberal arts ideals of free and open inquiry.

For more information about the St. Josephs College Presidential Lecture Series, please call 631.687.2667 or visit our Web site at www.sjny.edu.