“Women On Wednesdays”: Norah O'Donnell and Kate Andersen Brower

Please join American University's Women & Politics Institute and the Kennedy Political Union for a conversation with Norah O’Donnell and Kate Andersen Brower, co-authors of the book, . WPI Adjunct Associate Professor Jane Hall will facilitate the discussion. Details and registration here.

In We the Women, O’Donnell and Brower explore the central - but often hidden - American women who helped change the course of history, presenting a fresh look at U.S. history through the lens of women. Through vast research and interviews, O’Donnell and Brower curate a new version of the American story - one that focuses on the heroines who insisted that the country live up to the promises made 250 years ago in the Declaration of Independence. Order the book .

ABOUT NORAH O’DONNELL

Norah O’Donnell is an award-winning journalist who currently serves as a 60 Minutes correspondent. O’Donnell previously anchored CBS Evening News between 2019 and 2025, and co-anchored CBS This Morning from 2012 to 2019. She has earned nearly every major recognition in journalism during her nearly three decades of experience covering the biggest stories in the world and conducting impactful, news-making interviews. O’Donnell has covered eight presidential elections and has interviewed every living president of the United States, as well as the late former President Jimmy Carter. 

O'Donnell is a member of the Board of Directors at Georgetown University, from which she holds three degrees, including a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy, a Master of Arts, and an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. She currently lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, whom she met while attending college together.

ABOUT KATE ANDERSEN BROWER

Kate Andersen Brower is an American author and journalist who has written several award-winning books about the White House. Her book, The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House became a number one New York Times bestseller, and serves as inspiration for the Netflix M**der mystery series The Residence. Brower has worked as a producer for CBS News and Fox News, and has also written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Smithsonian, and Vanity Fair. She also covered the White House for Bloomberg News during President Barack Obama’s first term in office.

Brower graduated from Barnard College and holds a master degree from Oxford University.

ABOUT JANE HALL

Jane Hall is an adjunct professor for the Women & Politics Institute in the School of Public Affairs and associate professor, emerita, from the School of Communication. Combining her work as a journalist and scholar, Hall specializes in researching, teaching, and writing about the intersection of media and politics. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and winner of the Los Angeles Times Editor’s Award, Hall worked as a journalist in New York before joining American University. She is frequently interviewed as an expert on media, politics and young people. Hall is the author of Politics and the Media: Intersections and New Directions (CQ/Sage). She was the host and executive producer of the American Forum series at AU for more than 20 years.

A Texas native, Hall earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin and her master's degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

ABOUT THE WOMEN & POLITICS INSTITUTE

The Women & Politics Institute provides practical and academic training that encourages women to become involved in the political process and facilitates research by faculty and students that enhances our understanding of the challenges and opportunities women face in the political arena.

ABOUT THE KENNEDY POLITICAL UNION

Kennedy Political Union is the nonpartisan, student-run, on-campus political speaker’s bureau at American University. Since 1968, the Kennedy Political Union has been recognized as one of the premier college speakers bureaus in the United States. Our mission remains to bring the most politically relevant and interesting speakers to campus to engage the American University community and to focus on important issues from all ends of the political spectrum.

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