Award-winning journalist Marilyn Serafini to deliver inaugural Toner Lecture on American Politics and Political Journalism at SU’s Newhouse School March 28

First Toner Prize winner to be honored

Award-winning journalist Marilyn Serafini, who covers health care for the Kaiser Family Foundation, will deliver the inaugural Toner Lecture on American Politics and Political Journalism at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications on Monday, March 28. She will speak at 7 p.m. in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in Newhouse 3. Her talk is free and open to the public. Parking is available in SU pay lots. 

Serafini, a health care and welfare reporter for National Journal, was selected as the inaugural Robin Toner Distinguished Fellow of the Kaiser Family Foundation last summer. She has covered the U.S. Congress since 1985, writing about health care, tax, trade, welfare, pension and banking legislation. She covered the health care reform debate during the Clinton Administration, and the recent debate that led to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. As part of her fellowship, she works closely with the editors of Kaiser Health News (KHN) and KHN news organization partners on a series of articles on health policy and politics, as well as stories that explore the intricacies of health care reform implementation. KHN is an editorially independent news service of the Kaiser Foundation. 

The March 28 event will also honor the first winner of the Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting, Craig Harris of The Arizona Republic. 

The Toner Lecture and Toner Prize are part of the Newhouse School’s Robin Toner Program in Political Reporting, which honors the late Robin Toner ’76, a SU alumna who was the first woman to be national political correspondent of The New York Times. 

For more information, contact Charlotte Grimes at (315) 443-2366 or cgrimes@syr.edu.