Simmons College To Name School For Late Journalist Gwen Ifill

BOSTON (AP) — A college in Boston will name one of its schools after the late Gwen Ifill, a co-host of PBS' "NewsHour" and veteran journalist who moderated two vice presidential debates.

Simmons College announced Tuesday the Gwen Ifill College of Media, Arts and Humanities in honor of Ifill, who graduated from the private college with a communications degree in 1977.

A former reporter for The New York Times and The Washington Post, Ifill switched to television in the 1990s and covered politics and Congress for NBC News. She moved to PBS in 1999 as host of "Washington Week" and also worked for the nightly "NewsHour" program. She and Judy Woodruff were named co-hosts in 2013.

Ifill died of cancer last year at age 61.

A formal launch of the school is planned for 2018.

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