Ann Marie Lipinski Recognized by Alumnae Council
Sara Fitzgerald
Daily Alumna (1973)
It was just over a year ago that a copy of the Alumni Association's "e-TrueBlue" electronic newsletter arrived in my online mailbox. After an eight-year hiatus, the Alumnae Council was soliciting nominations for its annual Athena Award, which honors a distinguished alumna for excellence in her professional and community service efforts.
After hearing former Michigan Daily Co-Editor-in Chief (1977-78) Ann Marie Lipinski deliver another wonderful student publications banquet address in October 2007, I knew she was the kind of alumna they would be looking for. I fired off an e-mail to Development Officer Gayle Steiner to see what she thought. Gayle agreed, and went on to put the nomination in motion.
Needless to say, we were both pleased when the Alumnae Council recently announced that Ann Marie would be back on campus March 26-28 to accept this year's award.
Winning a Pulitzer Prize (for investigative reporting, in 1988) would probably be considered qualification enough for the Athena Award, but Ann Marie went on to become managing editor of the Chicago Tribune, and then, in 2001, senior vice president and editor of the paper. Nevertheless, she still found time to give back to the university and her profession. She served on the Board for Student Publications from 1992-1998, and on the board of the University of Michigan Knight Wallace Fellows program in journalism, as well as on the boards of the Poynter Institute and the Stanford University Journalism Fellows program.
Those of us who continue to track the trials and tribulations of the newspaper industry were saddened--but not necessarily surprised--when Ann Marie resigned from her top job at the Tribune in July 2008, a few days after its parent company ordered another round of drastic cuts in the size of the newsroom staff and the paper's news hole. At the time, she told The Washington Post that her decision was not driven by the cutbacks, but described it as "the hardest decision I've ever made," and told her staff, "the position is not the fit it once was."
But it was also not a surprise that the University of Chicago moved quickly to create a new position for Ann Marie--vice president for civic engagement, overseeing the university's relationships in a number of areas, including public schools, public safety, economic development and the city's bid for the 2016 Olympics. Considering the university's many connections to the new Obama administration, it's bound to be a very interesting time to be in that position.
It's also worth noting that since the Athena Awards was inaugurated in 1973, three of the honorees have been former Michigan Daily staffers. Alexa Canady, who served as an editor on the editorial page from 1970-71, became the first female African-American neurosurgeon and later head of neurosurgery at Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit. Robin Wright, meanwhile, has distinguished herself as a foreign correspondent and expert on the Middle East for a number of publications, including The Washington Post. As a sportswriter for The Daily in fall of 1968, Robin succeeded in opening up the press box at Michigan Stadium to women at a time when Big Ten stadium press credentials could still read: "no women, children or dogs allowed in the press box."
Having heard Ann Marie speak at both the 100th anniversary of The Daily in 1990, and the dedication of the Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building in 2007, I'm confident she'll bring the same kind of thoughtful, honest and intelligent perspective to her appearances on campus this spring.
After all, she cut her teeth on The Michigan Daily!
Sara Fitzgerald was editor of The Michigan Daily from 1972-73. Now retired, she worked for most of her career as a journalist, including 15 years as an editor and new media developer for The Washington Post.