Gillian Ferris

News Director and Managing Editor
  • Fahey Foto

Gillian came to KNAU in 2001 as a freelance reporter after careers as a river cook, baker and teacher. Her first story won an Arizona Associated Press Award. Since then, Gillian has won more than a dozen regional and national Edward R. Murrow Awards for Excellence in feature reporting, writing, editing and documentary work. She served as the local anchor for NPR’s Morning Edition for well over a decade before becoming news director and managing editor at KNAU. As much as she loves reporting, Gillian has found her true soul work in editing and producing other journalists’ work. When not in the newsroom, she’s outside hiking, surfing, playing disc golf, running rivers and hanging out with her beloved dogs and friends.

Ways to Connect

Poetry Friday: The Grand Finale

By & Austin Davis & Aeka Joshi & Karen Vanaman & James Jay & Marge Piercey • Dec 25, 2020
istock.com

It’s the last Friday of 2020, and that means it’s the last Poetry Friday of the year, as well. Today, we take a look back at a difficult year by way of the poems listeners submitted: from a frontline nurse, to a teenager stuck at home, to an up-and-coming poet who uses writing to manage his OCD.

This year’s Poetry Friday segments represent a timeline of how the coronavirus pandemic took hold of the world and our lives.

Poetry Friday: The Last Butterfly

By & Rose Houk & Loren Eiseley • Dec 18, 2020
worldwildlife.org

It goes without saying that 2020 has been a tough year filled with a lot of uncertainty. Many people turn to nature for solace in times of trouble, and living on the Colorado Plateau, we are fortunate to have an abundance of open space to do just that. In this week’s Poetry Friday segment, Rose Houk, a writer for KNAU’s Earth Notes series, shares her thoughts on the healing power of the natural world, as well as a poem by the late American anthropologist and nature science writer Loren Eiseley.

Navajo Nation Seeks Public's Help In Finding 2 Missing Girls

By • Nov 25, 2020
Navajo Police Department

Navajo Nation Police are searching for two missing sisters last seen Sunday in Ft. Defiance. They are seven year old Jayda John and fourteen year old Jaylee Spencer.


With Rising COVID-19 Cases, AZ Health Officials Suspend Some Out-Of-State Patient Transfers

By • Nov 25, 2020
istock.com

The Arizona Department of Health Service has suspended some transfers of patients from other states as the state’s hospitals admit an increasing number of COVID-19 patients.

Earth Notes: Heritage Turkeys

By • Nov 25, 2020
Wikimedia Commons

Turkeys have been an important food staple in the Southwest for centuries. But the native varieties bear little resemblance to the plump turkeys of today.

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