Judy Woodruff joins Duke Endowment board

Judy Woodruff, formerly a student, visiting professor and member of the Board of Trustees at Duke, has been elected a trustee of the Charlotte-based Duke Endowment. She has worked at CNN, NBC News and PBS—where she is currently the co-anchor and senior correspondent.

Woodruff, Woman’s College ’68, currently serves as Trustee of the Freedom Forum, the Newseum and the Urban Institute. Now working with the Endowment, Woodruff will serve as a trustee of the 10th largest private foundation in the Southeast. The Endowment has awarded $3 billion in grants that have gone toward its mission of supporting programs in higher education, health care, children’s welfare and rural churches in the Carolinas.

A Tulsa native, Woodruff started at Meredith College in Raleigh before transferring to Duke. After graduating with a degree in political science, Woodruff began working in journalism at a CBS affiliate in Atlanta. She also worked as the chief Washington correspondent for NewsHour and as a CNN anchor. Along with her current work as a PBS anchor, she hosts a show on Bloomberg Television.

In a career that has spanned four decades, Woodruff has won many honors including the Cine Lifetime Achievement Award, a Duke Distinguished Alumni Award, the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award in Broadcast Journalism/Television and the University of Southern California Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism. She is also a founder of the International Women’s Media Foundation.

“When [James B.] Duke created the Endowment, he wanted its trustees to be ‘persons of character and ability,’ and Judy Woodruff surely fits that description,” said Minor Shaw, chair of the Endowment’s board in a press release. “She holds strong ties to the Carolinas, and her background will bring a unique perspective to our board.”