Television news mainstay Anderson Cooper graduated from Yale with a degree in political science, then studied briefly at the University of Hanoi. He inaugurated his career in broadcast journalism as the chief international correspondent of Channel One before leaving his post at that network to join ABC News as a regular correspondent on such series as World News Tonight, 20/20, and 20/20 Downtown. In time, Cooper accepted a position as anchor on his own eponymous CNN talk program, Anderson Cooper 360°. Cooper joined the cast of 60 Minutes as an infrequent correspondent in December 2001, and also made occasional contributions to its sister program, 60 Minutes II. In addition to his news-reporting work, Anderson hosted the competitive reality show The Mole for its first two seasons (2001-2002). In 2003 he began hosting his own hour-long CNN program Anderson Cooper 360 that was so popular it eventually expanded to two hours.