PROFILE: Susan Swain ’76, H’99
Radio. Nearly 5,000 of Swain’s on-camera interviews are logged in the C-SPAN video library. In December of 2016, she began serving as an independent director at Discovery Communications. She also is a director of the C-SPAN Education Foundation. A two-time winner of the Vanguard Award, the cable industry’s highest professional recognition, Swain also has been recognized by her industry as a Cable TV Pioneer. Swain is no stranger to “pioneering.” She was one of the first women to enroll at the University when it became coeducational in 1972. And her colleagues call her a sort of tech pioneer, even though she gives lots of credit for innovative use of technology to others on her team. “Susan helped develop the C-SPAN mission in the early years of the network,” said her co-CEO, Rob Kennedy. “Her experience has been invaluable as we’ve navigated this most extraordinary past 18 months.” When the Democrats staged a sit-in on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in June 2016, and cameras were shut off by Republicans, Swain and the network’s programming VP Terry Murphy sprang into action by ensuring that C-SPAN used social media to record and air the protest, said Kennedy. “Because Susan is focused on us being innovative and nimble about how we use new technology to capture what is going on in government and public affairs, we were ready to put that stuff on the air,” said Kennedy. After the congressional baseball shooting almost exactly one year later, Swain, with a small team, helped get the game on TV, even though C-SPAN had not covered the representatives’ annual game in more than 30 years. “After the shooting, the game took on important symbolism. We had to be there,” she said. “We had 24 hours to find a way to get a signal out of the ballpark. Ultimately, our production quality may not have been great, but we were there to televise this moment of national unity. That’s what mattered.”
Telling History Swain’s passion for storytelling has not only helped shape the programming of C-SPAN, it has offered viewers an important historical perspective during a time when citizens are recognizing the impact Washington can have on individuals’ lives. She was instrumental in creating “American History TV,” which airs “All Weekend. Every Weekend” on C-SPAN3. And her project First Ladies: Influence and Image featured
interviews with historians and biographers to depict the biographies of “every first lady from Martha to Michelle.” In addition, the idea for a series about 12 landmark Supreme Court cases came from hearing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg talk about the “real people’s story” behind Loving v. Virginia. “History provides important context. There have been two polarizing elections in a row. There is a big health care debate, ongoing wars, and international terrorism and our response to it,” she said. “As the country goes through the current turmoil, we have to remember that there have been equally tumultuous times in the past and, well, we’re still here. The system survives.”
Susan Swain ’76, H’99 (middle row, second from right), who was among the first full-time female graduates of the University, reunites with other ‘pioneering’ women from her class at Scranton in 2016.
Paying it Forward Swain not only has a commitment to the past but to the future, especially when it comes to Scranton students. She was excited that the C-SPAN Bus, an interactive, multimedia learning center focused on bringing coverage to communities nationwide, was able to make an election-year stop at the University. C-SPAN did a live show from campus in November 2016, giving students a behind-the-scenes look at how the news is made. Swain also mentors business students (she was recently inducted into the Kania School of Management’s Business Leader Hall of Fame) and hires Scranton graduates, two of whom are now close colleagues. “I feel a very positive sense of wanting to pay it forward to the University. It certainly changed my life and helped me develop a set of values that guide my life,” she said. “Being involved with students is enormously energizing. And it gives me lots of confidence that the country will be in good hands when it’s my turn to hand the torch over.” See photos of Swain and read more about what she has to say about first ladies at scranton.edu/scrantonjournal.
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