Elaine Quijano is not only the youngest journalist to moderate a debate in the general election since 1988, but the Filipino-American is also the first Asian-American to do so.

An anchor with CBSN, CBS’s 24-hour digital news network, Quijano is a class of ‘95 alumna, earning a bachelors degree in broadcast journalism from the University.

Quijano will be moderating Tuesday night’s Vice Presidential debate at 8 p.m. CST. The nation’s first and only look at the two vice presidential candidates debating will air on most major cable news channels such as ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.

In 2009, Quijano spoke at the College of Media’s convocation. A CNN correspondent at the time, Quijano spoke about her mom’s journey from the Philippines to the U.S., and how that paved her future.

“My mother was 28 years old when she finally earned her bachelor’s degree in accounting,” Quijano said in 2009. “That education allowed her to immigrate here to the United States, ultimately paving the way for my sister—an MIT graduate—and me.”

As an undergraduate, Quijano was inspired to switch from engineering to journalism after taking Robin Kaler’s class and witnessing a demonstration where Kaler had someone pretend to rob her, which was meant to teach about eye witnesses and observational learning.

“She was amazingly smart. She was actually Elaine Cagas then,” Kaler said. “She was a very good writer, a really good researcher, creative with story ideas and just a delight to have in class.”

Seeing the success of her former student is really exciting, Kaler said.

“We have quite a few of our alums, obviously, who have great success in their careers, some who have gone on in the news business and some in other areas,” Kaler said. “Obviously they had journalism degrees, but it’s pretty fun everyday to turn on the news and see Elaine and see her doing consistently solid, thoughtful work and to see that recognized in being selected as a debate moderator.”

Reflecting back on her own career, Kaler noted how when she became a female news director, there wasn’t a whole lot of diversity.

“It’s really exciting to see our students from all backgrounds be able to offer their life experiences and their perspectives to see how that first draft of history might be captured.”

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Jessica Berbey, Madeleine Hubbard and Aaron Navarro contributed to this report.