April 7, 1998

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lucinda Franks ’68, writer in residence on William Gifford Fund for Visiting Writers, spoke in Sanders Auditorium on “The War for Baby Clausen.” Professor Emeritus of English Gifford was happy with Franks’ talk, telling The Miscellany News, “she’s a wonderful writer, she studied here, she taught here, she understands reporting, she understands what students need to know, and to me, she makes what she writes about—the problems and possibilities—exciting.”

A staff writer for The New York Times, Franks shared the 1971 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for “Diana: the Making of a Terrorist,” an account the life and death of Weatherwoman Diana Oughton. She taught Vassar’s Contemporary Press class in 1981.