PBK Lecture 2010: Gretchen Morgenson

Gretchen Morgenson, assistant business and financial editor and columnist for the New York Times, delivered the 2010 University of Louisvlle Phi Beta Kappa Lecture. The annual PBK Lecture is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, the Phi Beta Kappa Association of Kentuckiana, and the Speed Art Museum.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gretchen Morgenson delivered the 2010 University of Louisville Phi Beta Kappa lecture, sponsored by the University of Louisville and the College of Arts and Sciences, the Phi Beta Kappa Association of Kentuckiana  and the Speed Museum.   Her lecture, “After the Deluge: How Washington, Main Street and Wall Street are Faring Post-Meltdown,” was held Tuesday, October 5 at 6 p.m. at the Speed Museum Auditorium.

About Gretchen Morgenson

Gretchen Morgenson is assistant business and financial editor and a columnist at the New York Times. She has covered the world financial markets for the Times since May 1998 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for her "trenchant and incisive" coverage of Wall Street.

Gretchen Morgenson was born in State College, PA in 1956.  She graduated in 1976 from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, with a B. A. in English and History; it was there that she learned to write, thanks to an especially inspiring Freshman English teacher.

Her journalism career began at Vogue.   Later, she spent an  enlightening three years as a broker at Dean Witter.  She returned  to  journalism at Money, then Forbes, Worth, and back to Forbes, where, under the tutelage of the editor, Jim Michaels, she began to have an impact on the business world.

She arrived at The New York Times in 1998, bringing with her a conviction that capitalism should be made to work for everyone, not just the rich and powerful.  In 2002, she was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for her “trenchant and incisive” coverage of Wall Street.  She now has her own column, which appears regularly on the front page of the “Business” section of the Sunday edition of The New York Times.

Gretchen Morgenson has become visible in the media, having made several appearances on PBS with Charlie Rose, and has been a guest on The News Hour and on Bill Moyers Journal.  She has been interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air on NPR, and was a recent guest on Face the Nation on CBS.  In  July of 2009, her photograph appeared on the cover of The Nation, which featured  an article by Dean Stockman,  naming her  “The Most Important Financial Journalist of Her Generation.”  In the current issue of Vanity Fair, she is listed as #54 among the 100 named as the magazine’s “The New Establishment 2010.