CONTACT: JEFF LIEBERMANN
Director of Development
Social Sciences and Hamanities,
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
UI Foundation News
500 Levitt Center for University Advancement
Iowa City IA 52242
Phone: (319) 335-3305 or (800) 648-6973
email: jeff-liebermann@uiowa.edu

Release: Jan. 13, 2003

Gannett Foundation commits $250,000 to UI journalism building campaign

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The Gannett Foundation of McLean, Va., The Des Moines Register and the Iowa City Press-Citizen have pledged a gift of $250,000 to the University of Iowa Foundation for the UI journalism building campaign.

The gift will support construction of the UI's Philip D. Adler Journalism and Mass Communication Building, for which ground was broken in September 2002. The UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, which includes the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, will name two areas of the facility—the school's hall of fame and an advanced video-display area in the building's lobby—for the Gannett Foundation, The Des Moines Register and the Iowa City Press-Citizen in recognition of the gift.

Pamela Creedon, the UI journalism and mass communication school's director, said the gift demonstrates Gannett's commitment to the future of journalism education at Iowa.

"This gift will have a powerful impact on our students' education, because it provides a crucial early boost to our efforts to make our new building a reality," Creedon said. "Gannett recognizes that if students and faculty are to do their best work, they need the best facilities. This gift is emblematic of Gannett's longstanding dedication to journalistic excellence, and we are extremely grateful for their generosity."

Philip R. Currie, senior vice president/news of Gannett Co., a 1962 graduate of the UI journalism school and member of the school's Professional Advisory Board, said Gannett was pleased to support the school's work.

"I know from personal experience and as a newspaper executive that the University of Iowa's journalism and mass communication school is known for the excellent quality of its graduates," Currie said. "The school has operated out of cramped, temporary quarters for too long. We are delighted to help rectify that situation. We believe the new building will enhance Iowa's program and benefit all of journalism. The UI will help lead the way nationally in journalism and mass communication education."

The student-centered design of the approximately 65,000-square-foot, three-story Philip D. Adler Journalism and Mass Communication Building features computer labs, broadcast labs, advanced classrooms, study and meeting spaces, offices and a large resource center. It will also include space for the UI Department of Cinema and Comparative Literature and other College of Liberal Arts and Sciences classes, as well as for The Daily Iowan newspaper. OPN Architects Inc. of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, designed the building. Completion is slated for early 2005.

Philip D. Adler, for whom the new building will be named, was a 1926 UI graduate who had a long and influential career as a newspaper publisher. He died in 1984.

The Gannett Foundation serves local organizations in those communities in which Gannett Co. Inc. has a local daily newspaper or television station; The Des Moines Register and the Iowa City Press-Citizen are among 94 daily newspapers in the United States owned by Gannett Co. Inc. The foundation makes contributions to improve the education, health and advancement of the people who live in Gannett communities.

The Gannett gift is part of the UI's $850 million comprehensive campaign, which will run through 2005 and is being conducted under the guidance of the UI Foundation. Named "Good. Better. Best. Iowa: The Campaign to Advance Our Great University," the seven-year effort is raising private funds to help launch a variety of initiatives across the university, substantially increase the number of UI scholarships and endowed faculty positions, support new educational and research facilities, build the UI's endowment and fund outreach and service programs to benefit Iowans.

The UI Foundation is acknowledged by the UI as a preferred channel for private contributions that benefit all areas of the university. For more information about the Good. Better. Best. Iowa campaign, visit its web site at www.GoodBetterBestIowa.org.