Judy Woodruff remembers the first big story she ever reported. It was in the 1970s, for the CBS affiliate in Atlanta where she worked. There was a dispute surrounding plans for a highway to go through an Atlanta suburb, and she went out and interviewed officials about it.
At the time, there “were so few women in journalism you could barely count them on one hand,” Woodruff recalled in an interview.
Woodruff, who graduated from Duke in 1968, went on to become one of the most respected anchors in journalism, covering politics and news for five decades at major networks, including NBC, PBS and CNN.
She hadn’t always wanted to be a journalist. Woodruff started out as a math major at Meredith College in Raleigh and switched both majors and universities, arriving at Duke in the fall of 1966 to study political science. She was involved in the Student Union, Publications Board, Alpha Delta Pi sorority and Associated Students of Duke (the precursor to Duke Student Government).
Woodruff named David Paletz and Alan Kornberg as her favorite professors, both in political science, and credits them for her entry into journalism. After working the summer before her senior year on Capitol Hill she was advised not to go back to D.C. after graduation because, she was told, women were not welcome. Her professors encouraged her to cover politics instead. She did, and never turned back.
Woodruff has received more than 25 honorary degrees (including from Duke), the Peabody Journalistic Integrity Award and an Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award. She is a trustee emerita of Duke and is on the board of The Duke Endowment.
“Don’t be discouraged by the gridlock and polarization you see in Washington and elsewhere,” Woodruff has advised students. “The stakes are too high for us to give up trying to make things better.”
