President Michael Roth announced on Tuesday that distinguished novelist and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anna Quindlen P’07 has been selected to follow President Obama as this year’s Commencement Address speaker.
“Anna Quindlen is one of the most distinctive voices in American letters today and we are honored that she will present this year’s Commencement Address,” President Roth wrote in an email.
Quindlen, whose son graduated in 2007, said in an e-mail to the Argus that she has not yet determined the specifics of her May 24 speech to the graduating class of 2009. However, owing to her son’s positive experience as an undergraduate at Wesleyan, she feels a high respect for the school and intends to put great thought into her message.
“I think Wesleyan offers the best of what liberal arts colleges provide: highly involved and esteemed faculty, small classes, one-on-one advising, a strong sense of community and a student body that, because of its intelligence and diversity, is a valuable teaching tool all by itself,” Quindlen wrote.
A graduate of Barnard College with a major in English literature, Quindlen has previously spoken at over forty commencements at both colleges and high schools. She holds honorary degrees from over ten universities and colleges. She currently writes a column entitled “Last Word” for Newsweek magazine, and in addition to her novels and columns, has published a collection of essays and two children’s books.
Quindlen recalled enjoying writing during her school years because of the constant praise that she received for her written work from teachers. She noted that a successful writer does not merely think about writing, but rather acts upon these inclinations.
“It’s the Nike slogan: just do it,” Quindlen wrote. “No writing ever got done simply by thinking about it. You have to sit down and string sentences together. And don’t wait for the muse. Most of the time, she’s not coming. I think she’s at Toni Morrison’s house.”
By her junior year of college, Quindlen was a paid reporter for the New York Post, which she described as a “slightly lefty tabloid with a staff of crackerjack stylists.” Already employed in the industry, Quindlen chose not to write for her campus newspaper. Quindlen joined the New York Times in 1977 and became deputy metropolitan editor in 1983. One of the first women to write opinion pieces for The Times, Quindlen wrote three nationally syndicated columns from 1981 to 1994: “About New York,” “Life in the 30s,” and “Public and Private.”
During her tenure at The Times, Quindlen wrote a series of columns that ultimately earned her a Pulitzer Prize in 1992, in support of Anita Hill, who charged Clarence Thomas with sexual harassment during his confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court.
“Winning a Pulitzer is just about what you imagine it’s like,” Quindlen wrote. “A Western Union operator read me the telegram over the phone, and I levitated, at least metaphorically. I was happy to be able to write feminist columns at a time when women were underrepresented in newspapers in general and on op-ed pages in particular.”
Quindlen left the newspaper business in 1995 to focus her attention on other writing projects. However, she still greatly values her experiences and the place of the Newspaper industry in American society.
“I’m a better woman for having been a journalist,” Quindlen wrote. “I’m a lucky woman. I’ve seen the continuum. I started in newsrooms with manual typewriters and linoleum floors, graduated to a computer and a cubicle, and now I can work, and report, from my own home with the help of the Internet.”
According to Quindlen, the future of the newspaper industry is impossible to discern. She noted that never before have Americans had such easy access to the news, but must make sure that this privilege is not abused.
“Because of the sheer quantity of media, and media sources, the American people have the ability to be better informed today than at any time in history,” Quindlen wrote. “But they also have a responsibility to be educated consumers of information, to work to find the best sources of information, whether on paper or on line, and to use more than one—many more than one—to educate themselves about what’s going on in the country and the world.”
Quindlen is currently working on a new novel, which she hopes to have completed by the end of this year. In addition to her literary career, Quindlen has also gained recognition for her focus on social activism, including her current position as Chair of Barnard’s Board of Trustees, a member of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America Board of Advocates, and a member of the Board of NARAL Foundation, a pro-choice organization.
Since she has seen the radical or unfashionable issues raised in her columns enter mainstream public discourse over time, Quindlen values her role as a voice of social change.
“When I realized that gay men and lesbians were shocked that a straight woman would stand up for them in print, I became a lifelong gay rights activist,” she wrote.
Quindlen has received numerous prizes and fellowships in recognition of her work, as well as the distinction of being named one of Glamour magazine’s 10 Outstanding Women of the Year in 1991.
Yet Quindlen finds the most meaning in her work that connects to her children, Christopher ’07 and Maria Krovatin, and husband Gerald Krovatin, with whom she lives in New York City.
“Ultimately the columns that mean the most to me are the ones about my children, because they provide an indelible record of their childhoods, and of my constant attempts to be a good mother to them.”
Despite the changing dynamics of the newspaper industry that she joined as a young woman in college, Quindlen urged students interested in journalism to pursue this career.
“My experience is that there are still young people out there anxious to be reporters,” Quindlen wrote. “I would tell them to go for it, because I can’t imagine a better professional life.”