Title: Alumni Pass on Hard-Won Political, Journalism Wisdom to Next Generation

Every Wednesday, AP Reporter Meg Kinnard (SFS’02) walks through the front gates of Georgetown and into the basement of Healy Hall.

She sits in a circle with students and shares her experiences of interviewing nearly every presidential candidate for the past two decades. And she dissects news stories alongside students, examining objectivity and trustworthiness. It’s an experience she wishes she had as an undergraduate at Georgetown.

“I know I would’ve wanted to be in the living room hearing from these practitioners of their craft,” she said.

In addition to covering national politics for the Associated Press, Kinnard is a spring fellow for the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service (GU Politics). Its fellows program, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this fall, brings insiders from politics, journalism and public service to share the inside scoop on their careers and working in national politics.  

For Kinnard, a School of Foreign Service alumna who got her reporting start on the Hilltop, the experience is particularly meaningful.

“Every day that I walk through those front gates, I am back home in a way that is wonderful,” she said. “To be helpful to the place that has helped me so much and helped me figure out who I was becoming — if there’s some small role I can play with students who are there now, I’m honored to be able to do that.”

Kinnard joins Don Graves (L’95), the former deputy secretary of commerce for the Biden administration, as two alumni who returned to Georgetown this semester to meet with Hoyas and share their hard-earned learnings in discussion groups, one-on-one conversations and site visits across town. They are part of a cohort of 21 alumni who have served as GU Politics Fellows over the past 10 years. 

Learn more about Kinnard and Graves’ path back to Georgetown.

Meg Kinnard: AP National Politics Reporter and SFS Alumnus

Meg Kinnard is the national politics reporter for the Associated Press. Most recently, she covered the 2024 presidential election and anchored the AP’s first livestream coverage of the election, which resulted in more than 13 million views.

Politics are in her blood: Kinnard’s grandfather, former Rep. Ed Jones, served as a member of Congress. Growing up, Kinnard would visit him in Washington, DC. In high school, Kinnard interned in the U.S. House of Representatives Page Program and grew more and more interested in public service and international relations. She set her sights on Georgetown. “Georgetown was all of a sudden my number one,” she said. “The School of Foreign Service and my intense interest in working for the government or a role of service made me realize I wanted to be a Hoya.”.

But something changed along the way: Kinnard wrote for the student-run Georgetown Independent since her first year. She covered campus news and interviewed university leaders, and got to see a different side of Georgetown — and of journalism. “Being able to elevate this content so everybody knows what’s going on made me realize, well, maybe that is a role of service. A service I can provide in a different way than I’d been thinking about before.” Her senior year, she interned with The Washington Post as part of a journalism course in the wake of 9/11. That was it. “I realized this is a service,” she said of journalism. “This is how our democracy keeps going by being willing to be in those spaces and tell those stories so that everyone is informed. I thought, if there’s a way for me to do this professionally, that’s what I want to do.”

She’s interviewed nearly every presidential candidate since 2005: After graduating from Georgetown, Kinnard worked at the National Journal in DC. A few years later, she began writing for the Associated Press in South Carolina. She covered the 2015 massacre at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, the presidential primaries, college football, hurricanes, “everything under the sun.” Starting in 2008, she began focusing more on political reporting, traveling across the country to cover campaigns. Most recently, she covered the 2024 presidential campaign with a focus on the GOP presidential primary. 

Returning to Georgetown: Every Wednesday, Kinnard hosts the discussion group, “Judging Journalism: Exploring Trustworthiness in Media.” Kinnard said she is learning from the students, whether in how they consume news or view a developing story. The discussions have even sparked story ideas. “Being part of this program has not only reminded me how much I love Georgetown, but also that the next generation of Hoyas will be in these shoes someday. Trying to help them find their way through is a great honor to me.”

Don Graves: Former Deputy Secretary of Commerce and Law School Alumnus

Don Graves (L’95) served as the deputy secretary of commerce for the Biden Administration, leading on issues including national security, industrial strategy and place-based economic development. He also served as the economic growth coordinator for Puerto Rico, overseeing an effort to support its economic recovery and long-term growth.

He originally wanted to be an astronaut: Graves grew up near an observatory in Cleveland, Ohio, and used to peer through his uncle’s large telescope. He was transfixed by the galaxies beyond and the physics of space. While the bug never left him, Graves began taking courses in political science and history in high school and found himself looking into a new universe. “Knowing that this is how our history has been made, by people engaged in public service trying to make sure people have what they need to succeed — and I could be a person who helped to do that — inspired me to pursue a path in public service.” After attending Williams College and interning in DC, Graves applied to Georgetown Law, drawn to its curriculum about politics and the law.

Doors open at Georgetown Law: Graves served as the president of the Student Bar Association and of the student body at Georgetown Law. Those experiences, along with the curriculum, helped hone his ability to see different perspectives on an issue, he said. “I’m a Democrat, but I was very friendly and worked closely with folks in the Federalist Society because I found that Georgetown created an environment where you could learn different perspectives. It frankly made me a much better leader over the course of my career.” Graves also interned at the Metropolitan Washington Planning and Housing Association and a civil rights group focused on economic issues, both of which piqued his interest in policy and economics.

His north star: After nearly 15 years in law and public policy, Graves served as the deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury in 2010. He remembers flying over his old neighborhood in Cleveland, Ohio, with President Obama on Air Force One during this time. “It hits me that there are all these people, kids like me who grew up there, who, even if they looked up and knew it was the president of the United States flying, wouldn’t necessarily know it was someone who thought about them and cared about them. Too many people in this country are disconnected from what happens in Washington, DC, and Washington, DC, is disconnected from their lives. This is why we do the work.”

New perspectives from students: In his discussion group, Politics, Policy and the Realities of Trying to Deliver for the American People, Graves unpacks insights from his role as the former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce. He finds he’s learning from students, too. “It has been phenomenal to work with them,” he said. “They challenge me with their questions. They push me to think about things in ways that I hadn’t.” Graves also hopes to inspire Hoyas into a career in public service. “The expertise in government is amazing, and you have people who are committed largely selflessly to serving our country to make this a better place to give people opportunities. That’s what I hope they take away from it, and that they are willing to dive into public service.”