For months after her graduation from Hillsdale in 2010, Kat Timpf came home to a dingy apartment in California and fell asleep on a yoga mat.
She worked long days in radio and full nights waitressing to pay the bills.
“I never lost sight of what I wanted to do,” Timpf told The Collegian in 2014.
Timpf currently works as a Fox News contributor and regularly appears as a panelist on “Gutfeld!,” a late-night program. She spent time as a reporter for National Review as well before joining Fox News full time last year.
After graduating magna cum laude, her pursuit of a career in journalism helped her develop the hilarious, outspoken, and confident voice viewers know her for today.
Her grit and determination embodies Hillsdale’s motto of, “Strength rejoices in the challenge.”
When she was hired at the Washington Times in 2011, Timpf said she pestered the radio staff every day to let her have even just a few minutes on air. They needed someone to cover breaking news, and she jumped at the opportunity for a daily segment.
Timpf displayed the kind of passion and work ethic students aspire to have as a Hillsdale graduate. Her education didn’t stay in the classrooms of Lane Hall after she left campus.
“It blew my mind when I figured out I could combine wanting to act and write with my love for freedom,” Timpf told The Collegian. “I feel like I’m able to explain things in a different way, especially in the conservative movement, because so many of the voices, even the young ones, sound like they’re 50 and cautious. It needs some spice. The message of freedom should be cool.”
Her experience in the world of journalism means she has excellent critical analysis skills and unique understandings and opinions about the world. The insight she could share with students moving on to full-time life in the professional world would benefit more than just her fellow English majors.
In her parting article for National Review, she described the impact the position had on her life.
“I knew I’d been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity — to write for an iconic publication alongside some of the most brilliant writers alive,” she wrote. “I knew that, as long as I didn’t blow it, this was going to have a huge impact on my professional life.”
Her humor brings a unique spiritedness and clever sarcasm to her commentary. In one of her humorous segments on “Gutfeld!,” Timpf donned a red wig and blue dress and strolled around an office in a parody of Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary. She spoke in circles around her coworkers’ questions. and checked a binder for reference when someone asked her, “Jen, how’s it going?”
College graduation is an intimidating life change, and Timpf’s levity and attention-grabbing manner of speaking offers the lighthearted energy a crowd full of anxious graduates needs.
The experience students have during their four years here at Hillsdale is incredibly valuable and unique to this school. It would be a shame to invite a speaker who doesn’t understand what kind of school Hillsdale is and the kind of students it forms. As an alumna, Timpf could commemorate graduation by honoring Hillsdale and the new alumni from her own experience here as a student.
According to The Collegian, Professor of History Brad Birzer said Timpf exuded confidence and intelligence during her time here as a student.
“You only have to watch her on Fox to see that very same look,” Birzer said. “Kat is genius. Certainly, she’s the leading wit of her generation, but I also think she’s one of those unique folks America produces only every once in a while.”
Timpf would be an excellent addition to Hillsdale’s growing list of celebrity commencement speakers. She knows how to tell a story in a bold, bright voice that has not only impacted readers and listeners, but Hillsdale College’s campus. It’s time for her to return and address the class of 2022 at its commencement.