EVANSTON, Ill. --- Susan Page, Washington Bureau Chief of USA Today, is the recipient of The Alumnae of Northwestern University’s 2019 Alumnae Award. Her book, The Mariarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty, published in April 2019, is a New York Times best seller. She is now working on a biography of Nancy Pelosi, titled Madam Speaker.
The Alumnae Award recognizes a woman who has brought honor to Northwestern University through outstanding professional contributions in her field and who has attained national recognition. Established in 1976, the Alumnae Award has been presented every year to an alumna who has had a significant impact in her field of endeavor. Educators, journalists, doctors, scientists, and artists are included among The Alumnae’s roster of award recipients.
“The Alumnae of Northwestern University is proud to present the 2019 Alumnae Award to Susan Page,” say Alumnae Award committee co-chairs Mary Schuette and Susie Stein. “She joins a distinguished group of women from such diverse fields as business, education, music, medicine, science, theater, and public service, bringing honor to Northwestern University.”
Ms. Page’s career began when she got involved in journalism during her school years at Southeast High School in Wichita, Kansas. She received a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, where she was editor-in-chief of The Daily Northwestern. She received a master’s degree from Columbia University, where she was a Pulitzer Fellow. Page has covered six White House administrations and 10 presidential elections, interviewed the nine past presidents (three after they left office), and reported from six continents and dozens of foreign countries. As a reporter – first for Newsday and then for USA Today – she drove to Three Mile Island hours after the nuclear mishap was reported, traveled across Southeast Asia to chronicle the exodus of Vietnamese boat people, and interviewed the physicist Stephen Hawking through his computerized voice.
“My debt to Northwestern is deep,” Page said. “As a journalist, I’ve been struck by the number of women in positions of leadership in my field who are also graduates of Northwestern – for instance, my fellow Washington Bureau chiefs Elizabeth Bumiller of The New York Times and Julie Pace of The Associated Press. I don’t think that’s an accident. My years in Evanston broadened my horizons in ways I couldn’t have imagined when I moved into Shepard Hall my freshman year – the first time I had ever spent a night outside my native state of Kansas. To return to Evanston to receive this award is an honor I will treasure.”
October 7, 2019 UPDATED October 18, 2019
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Michele Bresler, President and Public Relations Chair
The Alumnae of Northwestern University