2023 ALUMNI AWARDS

Nationally, Ponce was an anchor on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (now the PBS NewsHour), where he conducted nightly interviews with national and international newsmakers. He has also been a columnist for the Chicago Tribune and currently teaches interviewing at Loyola University Chicago.

Ponce has a law degree from the University of Michigan and practiced law for six years before becoming a journalist. Subsequently, he was a Benton Fellow in broadcast journalism at the University of Chicago.

Ponce’s awards include Illinois Journalist of the Year, the Studs Terkel Award for Journalism, the City Club of Chicago’s Award for Excellence in Journalism, and the Chicago Headline Club Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ponce’s family has many deep connections to Indiana University and the College of Arts and Sciences. His wife, Ann (B.A.’70, M.A.’74, Spanish), is an artist who painted the portrait of former IU President John Ryan, which currently hangs in Franklin Hall, and their three children are also IU graduates: Dan (B.S. ’99, Journalism, Voice Performance) is a television anchor who founded the a cappella group Straight No Chaser when he was an undergraduate; Anthony (B.A.’00, English, Spanish, LAMP) is also a Chicago broadcast journalist and rode for a top team in the Little 500 as an undergraduate; and daughter Maria (B.A.’02, Sociology) is a Chicago fashion and portrait photographer.