Andrea Mitchell, 1967 College of Liberal Arts for Women graduate, has been designated a trustee emerita following 20 years as a Penn trustee.
The University Board of Trustees convened last Friday during its Winter Stated Meeting, ratifying a resolution of appreciation for Mitchell and announcing that she will become a trustee emerita, according to Penn’s Almanac.
Mitchell’s reporting for NBC News — where she currently serves as veteran chief foreign affairs correspondent — has spanned five presidents and included coverage of Cuba, foreign policy and Congress, according to her biography on MSNBC.
The Daily Pennsylvanian reported that Mitchell jump-started her journalism career when she joined the student-run WXPN radio station as a Penn undergraduate. Since graduating, she has spoken at Penn on several occasions — the Annenberg School for Communication graduate ceremony in 1997, the inaugural Fox Leadership Program’s Lessons in Leadership lecture in 1999 and the inauguration of Penn President Amy Gutmann in 2004. Last July, the DP sat down with Mitchell, where she reflected on her involvement in WXPN and the challenges she faced as a woman who wanted to become a broadcast journalist.
“I studied everything: political science and history, of course my literature courses and music. And it better informed what kind of person I wanted to be,” Mitchell said in the interview. “I just wanted to be more engaged in the world.”
Mitchell joins several notable Penn alumni as a trustee emerita, including 1959 Wharton graduate and founder of the Huntsman Corporation Jon Huntsman Sr. and 1954 Wharton graduate and Chair Emeritus of The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. Leonard Lauder.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
Donate