Nancy Gibbs is the Edward R. Murrow Professor of the Practice of Press, Politics and Public Policy and Lombard Director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. Her work focuses on the challenges facing the information ecosystem and their implications for civic health.
Since joining Harvard in 2018, she has grown the center's revenue, tripled resident faculty, and transformed the Shorenstein Center into a leading interdisciplinary hub for research, convening, and teaching on the health of the information environment.
She launched new research initiatives, including the Independent Media Lab to study digital content creators, and the Documentary Film in the Public Interest program.
Her work on local news and civic infrastructure helped to inform major national philanthropic initiatives. She expanded the Goldsmith Awards to honor explanatory reporting and created accessible tools, podcasts, and trainings to help students and journalists cover government policy and civic issues.
At Harvard, Nancy has created innovative teaching and experiential learning programs on media and democracy, including executive education programs. She hosts the Shorenstein Center Unlocked Podcast, where she explains how government and policy work through conversations with experts.
Nancy is Editor at Large of TIME magazine (2018-Present) and was the first woman to serve as TIME's Editor-in-Chief (2013-2017). As Editor-in-Chief, she was responsible for all editorial decisions across print, digital and video platforms, reaching an audience of more than 60 million worldwide.
During her three decades at TIME, Nancy authored more cover stories than any writer in the magazine's 100-year history, including the black-bordered September 11 special issue that won the National Magazine Award in 2002.
She interviewed five U.S. presidents, covered four presidential campaigns, and interviewed heads of state in Japan, India, Egypt, Canada, and Norway.
Nancy is the co-author, with Michael Duffy, of two New York Times bestsellers on presidential history:
"The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity" (2013) spent 30 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
"The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House" (2008) explores Billy Graham's relationship with American presidents.
Nancy holds an M.A. (Oxon.) in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University, where she was a Marshall Scholar. She graduated summa cum laude from Yale University with Honors in History and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
She has received numerous honors including the Society of Professional Journalists Hall of Fame (2017), the Matrix Award from New York Women in Communications (2016), and the Lifetime Achievement Award from The Newswomen's Club of New York (2015).
Nancy serves on the boards of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, The HOW Institute for Society, Chautauqua Institution, and is Co-Chair of the Center for Communications Leadership and Policy at USC Annenberg.