Gloria Harrison-Hall ’93

Alumna

“I work in a very competitive environment that is full of stress and pressure, and PMC gave me confidence in myself to hold my own. In a very real sense, PMC empowered me.”

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A successful radio and television producer, Harrison-Hall has worked on nationally aired programs such as the Jenny Jones Show and the Maury Povich Show. She is a community activist who has launched a number of programs to familiarize the young people of Chicago with the electronic media. She is creator and producer of a work in progress, a musical entitled A Betta Life in the Hood. She serves on PMC’s Board of Trustees. She is married to Calvin Hall Brewster and has two children—Calvin, Jr., who is almost 5, and Sydney, who is almost 2.

“I’m proud to be a mom,” Harrison-Hall said. “I take tremendous pride in my children, but because I’m a working mother I go out of my way to spend time with them. Even though I work long hours and often come home late from the studio, I always get up early to get breakfast for my pair, and to get them ready for school. I spend time at their school as a reading volunteer, and I take my children on field trips. My job is not going to separate me from them.”

Harrison-Hall graduated from PMC in 1993, with a Bachelor’s degree in Communication and a minor in American Studies. While at the College she was editor of the Pine Manor Post. She was elected the president of UJIMA by her classmates. She served as a Resident Advisor, Peer Advisor, and Tour Guide. She was a Pine Manor singer and actor, appearing in a number of plays, recitals, concerts, and musicals on campus.

In her junior year, Harrison-Hall received the Sybil Webb Dougherty Prize for Voice. She participated in the Summer Minority Access to Research Training (SMART) Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder as one of 45 interns selected nationwide. At graduation Harrison-Hall received the Pine Manor College Award, the Dean’s Award, the Ruth Ann Sleeper Award, and the Dorothy McGuire Acting Award.

In her senior year, Boston’s ABC affiliate WCVB TV-Channel Five selected Harrison-Hall to be the co-producer of its weekly program Night Shift, which provided access and support to New England’s academic community by showcasing films and videos (drama, documentary, comedy, music, and dance) produced by local college students.

“I came from Dorchester,” Harrison-Hall recalled. “I participated in the Metco Program and went to high school in Wayland. I played on the varsity basketball team and was voted most likely to succeed by the senior class. However, when it came time to apply for college, I didn’t have the grades, and I didn’t have the SAT scores. It quickly became apparent to me that I wouldn’t be going to school with my friends.

“In desperation I even thought of enlisting in the Army,” Harrison-Hall continued. “Then someone told me about PMC. I applied, and someone at the College thought they saw some potential and took a gamble, and for that I am truly grateful.”

After graduation, Harrison-Hall relocated to Chicago, where she became a traffic assistant for the Sports Channel. Advancement came quickly, and she became a producer at WGN Radio in Chicago, overseeing two live talk shows that reached 34 states and parts of Canada.

In 1995, Harrison-Hall was hired by Warner Brothers as a research producer for the Jenny Jones Show, overseeing a staff of four, researching material, interviewing and booking guests, developing story ideas, and managing the production of field segments. She was subsequently promoted to producer, with comprehensive responsibility for one show a week.

At the same time, Harrison-Hall started a program to train inner-city, primarily minority, students on camera and editing equipment for Chicago Cabrini’s Connection tutor/mentor program, and she was instrumental in establishing an annual film festival for the students’ videos.

After almost four years with the Jenny Jones Show, Harrison-Hall was recruited by Universal Studios to be the coordinating producer for the Maury Povich Show. With total responsibility for the production of one show per week, she oversees the budget, story idea formulation, scripting, research, booking of guests, as well as the final, on-air product.

“I work in a very competitive environment that is full of stress and pressure, and PMC gave me confidence in myself to hold my own. In a very real sense, PMC empowered me,” Harrison- Hall emphasized.

“My teachers taught me that I could be a leader. They made me what I am today and what I am becoming. They taught me that I had a responsibility to give 110 percent of myself, to work hard, and to do the best I could. I’m still in contact with many of them.

“I needed a nurturing environment and caring professors, and I found that at PMC. Over the years they have made me realize that as I go about representing the inner city, black women, working mothers, and PMC, I need to stand tall and take charge,” Harrison-Hall concluded. “For me PMC is more than just a college—it is an important part of my family.”

Profile as published in the Spring 2004 Pine Manor College Bulletin.