Graduate Profile: Bill Whitaker ’73, L.H.D. ’97
Emmy-award winning 60 Minutes correspondent and HWS Trustee
“After receiving my degree in History from HWS, I went on to graduate school at Boston University and earned an M.A. in African American Studies. I also attended the Master of Journalism Program at the University od California, Berkeley. When I was based in Atlanta, I covered the Challenger Space Shutter explosion and the presidential campaign of Michael Dukakis. From there, I went to become CBS’ Tokyo correspondent and I covered stories like the Tiananmen Square massacre and military coup attempts in the Philippines. In 1992, I became a CBS correspondent in Los Angeles and in that time I have covered the Unabomber case, the Heaven’s Gate cult suicides, both O.J. Simpson trials and the Columbine school shootings. I have also served as CBS’ principal correspondent during the presidential campaign of George W. Bush.”
Internships
History majors at HWS have interned with prominent organizations from across the country, including:
- Albright-Knox Art Gallery – Buffalo, NY
- Alliance for Maine’s Future – Augusta, ME
- Assemblyman Brian Kolb – Geneva, NY
- Bank of America – New York, NY
- Belltower Books – Ithaca, NY
- Brooklyn Historical Society – Brooklyn, NY
- Brown, Gavalas & Fromm LLP – New York, NY
- Cambridge Advisory Group, Inc. – Cambridge, MA
- Center for Economic Growth – Albany, NY
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique – Paris, France
- Citizens Bank – Boston, MA
- Congressman Michael Arcuri – Cortland, NY
- Discovery Communications – New York, NY
- Exploration Summer Programs – New Haven, CT
- Fidelity Investments Brokerage Group – New York, NY
- Finger Lakes Federal Credit Union – Geneva, NY
- Geneva Historical Society – Geneva, NY
- German Marshall Fund of the United States – Washington, DC
- Impulse Productions – New York, NY
- Legal Assistance of the Finger Lakes – Geneva, NY
- Liberty Mutual – Rochester, NY
- Merrill Lynch – Yardley, P.A.
- Museum of Our National Heritage – Lexington, MA
- Nova Group – Japan
- Ontario County Economic Development – Geneva, NY
- Peace Corps
- Public Defender’s Office – Providence, R.I.
- Production Intern – New York, NY
- Rochester Business Journal – Rochester, NY
- Rochester Historical Society – Rochester, NY
- Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office – Ithaca, NY
- UBS Financial Services – Syracuse, NY
- Women’s Rights National Historical Park – Seneca Falls, NY