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An artist’s rendering shows how the Journalism School
will look with its new and renovated buildings. Before creating
one of the largest privately held U.S. communications companies,
Donald W. Reynolds, BJ ’27, worked his way through
school at a meat packing plant, was a Columbia Missourian
staff member, student senate president, Savitar
business manager and a Sigma Delta Chi member.
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Foundation
Awards $31 Million to J-School
The Donald
W. Reynolds Foundation announced Feb. 9 the awarding of $31
million to the Missouri School of Journalism for the creation
of the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, a center that
will focus on advanced studies of journalism and its role in democratic
societies.
The award is the largest private donation
ever to the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Plans for the Reynolds Institute were announced
Feb. 9 by Fred W. Smith, chairman of the Foundation. Richard Wallace,
chancellor of the University of Missouri-Columbia, accepted the
gift on behalf of the University.
The award will include up to $16.7 million
to build a new building and renovate two existing buildings on
the MU campus to house the institute. An additional $1.8 million
will fund technology and furnishings for the high-tech facilities.
In addition, up to $12.4 million will be made
available over a six-year period to fund the institute’s
staff salaries, programs and operations.
Donald W. Reynolds, who died in 1993, was
a 1927 graduate of the School
of Journalism. Reynolds turned an initial $1,000 investment
— part of it borrowed — into the Donrey
Media Group, one of the largest privately held communications
companies in the United States. Smith was the president and chief
executive officer of that organization, which was renamed Stephens
Media Group in 2002.
In announcing the award, Smith said the new
Reynolds Institute would provide an exceptional environment of
learning for both students and practicing journalists.
“The Foundation trustees and I feel
that the University of Missouri School of Journalism is uniquely
positioned in its ability and capability to create a world-class
center for journalism studies. Missouri’s reputation for
high quality, hands-on education and research were instrumental
in the trustees’ decision to fund the institute here. We
trust that the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute will become
a fixture in journalism education that will have a positive impact
on individuals and the industry for generations,” Smith
said.
The School of Journalism, the first in the
world, will celebrate its centennial in 2008. It operates its
own community daily newspaper, the Columbia Missourian,
and its own network affiliate television station, KOMU-TV. Journalism
students also get hands-on experience at the University’s
KBIA radio, IPI Global Journalist magazine, and several
School-related online media.
Through its Center
for Advanced Social Research, the School conducts research
on media-related issues for media, government and non-profit organizations.
The School is also the national headquarters for a number of national
journalism organizations, including Investigative
Reporters and Editors, National
Newspaper Association, The
Journalism and Women Symposium, and The
Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
MU Chancellor Richard Wallace,
second from right, expresses his gratitude to Fred W. Smith,
chairman of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, right, after
the $31 million announcement. Also expressing their appreciation
are Brady Deaton, provost and executive vice chancellor for
academic affairs, and Mary James, president of the University
of Missouri Board of Curators. Photo by Brian McNeill |
Chancellor Wallace thanked the Foundation
“for the vision to make this extraordinary investment in
the campus.”
“This is truly a transformational gift,”
he said. “Our internationally known School of Journalism
will have the resources to partner with citizens and other organizations
to strengthen journalism. We attract the finest journalism students,
scholars and practitioners from all over the world; now they will
be even better served. We are pleased that the trustees saw Mr.
Reynolds’ alma mater as the appropriate location for the
institute, and we will do everything within our ability to see
that the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute will honor his
contributions to the field of journalism and communications.”
Dean Mills, dean of the School of Journalism,
said the Reynolds Foundation gift will enable the School to build
on its existing teaching and research strengths “to help
journalists better serve democracy — and to help citizens
better understand how journalism works.”
“And we at Missouri will work very hard,”
he said, “to ensure that the Reynolds Institute quickly
takes its place as the leading center in the world for developing,
testing and disseminating new and better approaches to journalism.
“We envision an institute that will
bring together some of the world’s best practitioners
and scholars of journalism and give them the time and the technology-rich
environment to develop and test new and better forms of journalism.
And we see citizens — who have the largest stake in quality
journalism — as continuing collaborators in that process,”
Mills said.
He said the institute will focus its activities
on three areas:
- The Reynolds Fellows program, in which
four visiting and two MU faculty will work on projects aimed
at improving the practice and understanding of journalism
- Experiments using new technologies for
journalism and advertising, developed in the institute’s
Journalism Futures Laboratory and its Technology Demonstration
Center
- Forums, workshops, lectures and other programs
in which journalists, citizens and academics work together to
strengthen the quality of journalism in democratic societies
To house the institute, the University will
erect a new building and renovate two others on the northeast
corner of historic Francis Quadrangle. Shaughnessy Fickle and
Scott Architects of Kansas City drew preliminary plans for the
project in preparation for the proposal to the Reynolds Foundation.
A Victorian gothic structure built in 1892
to house the School of Law, currently vacant, will be renovated
to house institute offices and the Journalism Library. A modern
four-story structure will be constructed inside the historic brick
and limestone exterior.
Jesse Hall’s dome glowed
with golden light on Feb. 9 in honor of the largest private
gift in Mizzou’s history. Photo by Brian McNeill |
A new building, with a brick and limestone
exterior designed to match the historic buildings on the Quad,
will be erected between the 1892 building and Walter Williams
Hall, part of the journalism complex at the north end of the Quad.
The new building and renovated space in Walter
Williams will house a public reception and exhibition area, a
120-seat forum equipped as a broadcast-quality television studio,
the Journalism Futures Laboratory, the Technology Demonstration
Center, multimedia editing stations, seminar rooms and offices
for visiting professionals and scholars.
Mills said the new facilities could be completed
by spring or summer 2007.
It is the second major MU building project
financed by the Reynolds Foundation. The Donald W. Reynolds Alumni
Center, dedicated in 1992, was built with a $9 million gift from
the Foundation. At the time, it was the largest gift in the history
of the University.
The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is a national
philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by Mr. Reynolds. Headquartered
in Las Vegas, Nev., it is one of the 50 largest private foundations
in the United States.
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Last Update:
March 12, 2007
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