Jane Pauley to join CBS' "Sunday Morning"

Jane Pauley is joining CBS News.

At a symposium Wednesday at the Schieffer School at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, CBS News' chief Washington correspondent and "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer announced that Pauley, former anchor of NBC's "Today" show and a co-host of "Dateline NBC," will become a contributor to CBS' Emmy Award-winning "Sunday Morning."

"My heart is doing strange things -- is there a doctor in the house?" Pauley told the audience. "My pulse is absolutely racing at that news."

Pauley, who began her TV journalism career at CBS' affiliate in Indianapolis (where she anchored the weekend news), credited the CBS network with getting her the co-hosting position on NBC's long-running morning program.

"CBS is the reason I had a 40-year career at NBC," she said, noting that on Memorial Day weekend the number of people in Indianapolis skyrocketed because of the Indy 500. "I followed 'MASH,' 'All in the Family,' 'Mary Tyler Moore,' 'Bob Newhart,' 'The Carol Burnett Show.' My Saturday night show, thanks to CBS, was the most-watched newscast in Indiana. So if anybody from out of town was watching television [that weekend], they were watching me.

"And sure enough a week later, I get a phone call: 'Ms. Pauley, I'm sorry, I don't know your first name. But I hear you're pretty good.' So if it weren't for that CBS Saturday night lineup that I followed, I would never have had a career in network television. So I've kind of come back home."

Pauley (the subject of a January 2014 profile for "Sunday Morning") recently authored the book "Your Life Calling: Reimagining the Rest of Your Life" (published by CBS' Simon & Schuster), based on stories of people who have reinvented their lives and careers in middle age -- using their talents and skills to do work they love.

"In our 60s, we develop a confidence based on the experience and skills we have," Pauley said. "We are more risk-takers."

She said her goal with the book wasn't "to astonish with stories of world-changing masters of the universe. I want to inspire, I want to spark people to pick one of their ideas."

"Jane is taking her own advice," Schieffer told his symposium audience Wednesday. "She's reinventing herself and is coming to work at CBS News ... and we couldn't be happier."

For more info:

• "Your Life Calling: Reimagining the Rest of Your Life" by Jane Pauley (Simon & Schuster); Also available in eBook, Unabridged Audio Download, and Unabridged Audio CD formats