Honoring a Legacy of Achievement During Women's History Month at Columbia Journalism School
CJS is proud to highlight the accomplishments of its distinguished women alumni.
Innovators and Educators in Journalism
Raney Aronson-Rath, '95 M.S., is the executive producer of FRONTLINE on PBS. In 2024, she was awarded the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism for courage, character and integrity in her cumulative professional accomplishments.
Angela Chen, '10 M.S., is a senior editor at Vox and former senior editor at WIRED. She is the author of "Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex," named a standout book of 2020.
Judith Crist, '45 M.S., a widely-read film critic, became the first regular film critic at New York Magazine and on the Today Show, while teaching at Columbia Journalism School for over 50 years.
Lynne A. Duke, '85 M.S., was a former bureau chief for The Washington Post, where she covered Africa from 1995 to 1999. Her book, “Mandela, Mobutu and Me,” reflected her experiences and reporting in Africa.
Barkha Dutt, ‘00 M.S., is an award-winning Indian television journalist and author, currently with Tiranga TV. She was part of NDTV for 21 years, known for her frontline reporting during the 1999 Kargil War.
Rehema Ellis, '77 M.S., is an Emmy and Murrow award-winning journalist, currently serving as NBC News' Education Correspondent. She has covered major events like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, earning multiple Emmy Awards for her impactful reporting.
Dorothy Butler Gilliam, '61 M.S., was among the first Black women to graduate from the J-School. At just 24 years old, she made history as the first African American woman hired as a reporter by The Washington Post.
Sister Maria del Rey, '67 M.S., the first nun to attend Columbia Journalism School, worked as a reporter for The Pittsburgh Press, hosted a Sunday morning show on WNBC and taught journalism in the Philippines.
Molly Ivins, '67 M.S., a three-time Pulitzer finalist, was an author, reporter and syndicated columnist, becoming the first woman police reporter at the Minneapolis Tribune and a columnist for The New York Times and the Dallas Times Herald.
Joan Konner, '61 M.S., was a groundbreaking broadcast news producer, documentarian, television executive and author who served as the first woman Dean of Columbia Journalism School from 1988 to 1997. As Dean, Konner brought many innovations to the School, establishing both the part-time Master of Science and Ph.D. programs.
Sally Bedell Smith, '87 M.S., is the best-selling author of six biographies, including “Elizabeth the Queen” and “Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life.” She has written for Time, TV Guide, The New York Times and Vanity Fair.
Before founding Recode in 2014, Kara Swisher, '85 M.S., renowned author, editor, podcast host and producer, worked as a contributing writer for The New York Times Opinion section, where she covered technology and its intersection with politics and culture.
Voices of Change
Geraldine Brooks, '83 M.S., won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her novel “March” and received the Overseas Press Club Award and Columbia University Distinguished Alumni Award.
Alejandra Ibarra Chaoul, '17 M.S. Stabile, is a Mexican journalist who created an archive to preserve the work of journalists killed in Mexico. This project led to the founding of “Defensores de la Democracia,” a nonprofit focused on press freedom and protecting journalists, supported by a 2018 Magic Grant from The Brown Institute for Media Innovation.
Andrea Elliott, '99 M.S., is the first woman to receive Pulitzer Prizes in both letter and journalism and won a 2022 Lukas Book Prize for her book "Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City."
2023 Maria Moors Cabot Prize winner June Carolyn Erlick, '70 M.S., founded ReVista magazine and worked as a foreign correspondent in Latin America.
Mary Jordan, ‘84 M.S., a correspondent and Associate Editor for The Washington Post, won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting for her investigation into Mexico's criminal justice system.
Madeleine Kunin, '57 M.S., a journalist and author, served as Vermont’s first woman governor, reported for the Burlington Free Press and held roles as Deputy Secretary of Education and U.S. ambassador to Switzerland.
Mariana Van Zeller, '02 M.S., is a Peabody-winning Portuguese-American journalist and National Geographic correspondent, best known as the host of Trafficked with Mariana Van Zeller, a series exploring global underworlds.
The WERT Global Prize
The WERT Global Prize honors excellence in comprehensively reported business journalism by a woman that fosters a greater understanding of global business.
Olivia Carville, ‘18 M.A. Business & Economics, won the prize twice in three years (2022 & 2024) for her investigative work on the dangers of social media to the mental health and safety of young people.
Erika Fry, '11 MA Politics, won the 2020 WERT Global Prize for her piece, "Epidemic of Fear," on the failed dengue vaccine rollout in the Philippines.
View the full list of winners since 2018 here.