ALUMNI WEEKEND 2017

Matt Bai '94
Bai is the national political columnist for Yahoo News, where his “Political World” column appears every Thursday. Before joining Yahoo at the end of 2013, he was the chief political correspondent for the New York Times Magazine, where he covered three presidential campaigns, and a columnist for the Times. He is the author, most recently, of “All the Truth is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid,’’ which looks back at the ruinous scandal involving the presidential candidate Gary Hart in 1987 and how it helped shape the political and media culture for decades after. A screenwriter whose work appeared on the 2016 Black List, which honors the most coveted unproduced scripts in Hollywood, Bai is currently developing two movies, including an adaptation of “All the Truth Is Out.” He began his career at Newsweek and the Boston Globe.

Erika Dilday ’93
Dilday is the executive director of Maysles Documentary Center, a non-profit community film organization in Harlem dedicated to the exhibition and production of documentary films that inspire dialogue and action. Dilday also serves as a producer for MDC branded documentaries including "In Transit," which won the Special Jury Prize at the Tribeca Film Festival 2015, and "Raoul's," currently in production, about the iconic Soho restaurant. Dilday started her career as a producer for Boston Celtics Television in Boston, and has held positions at CNBC, CBS, National Geographic Television and at The New York Times, where she was part of the team that started the Times television channel.  She is currently in a one-year National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program for change leaders around the globe in the fields of arts and culture.

Robin McDowell ’93
McDowell began her journalism career in Cambodia in 1993, where she helped set up the country's first English-language daily newspaper. Soon after, she joined The Associated Press as chief correspondent in the country. She helped set up the A.P.’s regional editing desk in Thailand in 2005, and spent seven years in the Indonesia bureau. Most recently, McDowell was a correspondent in newly opened up Myanmar. Earlier this year, she was part of a four-person team at the A.P. that won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for an investigation of the fishing industry in Southeast Asia. The project revealed an industry that relied on trapped and enslaved workers, and the reporters traced the seafood to supermarkets and pet food providers across the U.S. As a result of their reporting, more than 2,000 slaves were rescued. Still with A.P. as an investigative reporter, McDowell is now based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

James S. Toedtman ’67
Toedtman was a reporter, managing editor, Washington Bureau Chief and associate editor of Newsday and New York Newsday. He also worked for the Hearst Corporation for seven years as executive editor of the Boston Herald and editor of the Baltimore News American. For eight years, he edited the AARP Bulletin, the advocacy organization’s monthly news magazine. His honors include a special citation from the Inter-American Press Association for reporting from Central America, top awards from the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association and a share of three Pulitzer Prizes. He has been a college lecturer and speaker and today directs the Forum on Government Policy and Politics at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida.

See you on campus April 28-29. Don't forget to register!