Noted journalist, foreign policy analyst, and author Robin Wrightwill speak at the 2011 Ford School commencement ceremonies.
Wright grew up in Ann Arbor and earned two degrees from the University of Michigan, but her career has taken her all over the world. She has reported from more than a 140 countries on six continents for The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Sunday Times of London CBS News, and The Christian Science Monitor. She has also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, and others.
Among several awards, she received the U.N. Correspondents Gold Medal, the National Magazine Award for reportage from Iran in The New Yorker, and the Overseas Press Club Award for "best reporting in any medium requiring exceptional courage and initiative" for coverage of African wars. She was named journalist of the year by the American Academy of Diplomacy, and won the National Press Club Award and the Weintal Prize for diplomatic reporting. Wright has also been the recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grant.
She lectures extensively around the United States and has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and PBS programs, including "Meet the Press," "Face the Nation," "This Week," "Nightline," the "NewsHour," "Frontline," and "Larry King Live." Among her books, The Last Great Revolution: Turmoil and Transformation in Iran was selected as one of the 25 most memorable books of the year 2000. She is also the author of Sacred Rage: The Wrath of Militant Islam, Flashpoints: Promise and Peril in a New World, and In the Name of God: The Khomeini Decade.
Wright is currently a joint senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Commencement ceremonies will be held on Saturday, April 30, 4:30-6:00 p.m. at
Rackham.
As always, the entire community is warmly invited to attend commencement and help celebrate the achievements of our graduating MPP, MPA, PhD, and BA students.