The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s journalism school has a new name after a significant donation from a noted Arkansas media figure.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette owner and publisher Walter Hussman Jr. and his family have donated $25 million to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the largest single gift in the school’s history. The journalism school has been renamed the Hussman School of Journalism and Media.
“This naming gift provides $25 million in endowed funds to build for the future and invest in the people who have made this school a national leader — our professors, our staff, our students and all of the promise they represent,” Susan King, dean of the Hussman School, said in a UNC article. “The Hussman family’s passion for journalism is based on unwavering values. Their generosity and vision extend transformational support across all of the media disciplines that we teach and research and serve. Core values are at the root of all we do.”
Hussman graduated from the School of Journalism in 1968. In addition, his daughter, Eliza Gaines, received a master’s degree from the school in 2012.
“Carolina has one of the best journalism schools in America, as acknowledged by every rating group you can find. It’s where I went to journalism school; it’s where I learned these core values of journalism,” Hussman said in the UNC article.
A gift of $25 million from alumnus Walter Hussman ’68, his wife Ben and their family reinforces our core values at a critical moment for the industry. We are now the Hussman School of Journalism and Media. https://t.co/p4gDG7KnIG pic.twitter.com/xKGcMIZG34
— UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media (@UNCHussman) September 10, 2019
In the single largest gift to #UNC's journalism and media school, the Hussman family is investing heavily in the future of journalism and the media professions.
Introducing the @UNCHussman School of Journalism and Media: https://t.co/HteE0qpfjX 🐏 pic.twitter.com/0aEofKp6nW
— UNC-Chapel Hill (@UNC) September 10, 2019
According to a tweet from the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, the donation from the Hussman family “reinforces our core values at a critical moment for the industry.” These core values, printed on each of Hussman’s publications, are set to be chiseled on the entryway of UNC’ Carroll Hall.
“This is a transformative gift for the school, not just for now, but for the future — for not one generation, but for generations to come,” King said. “I find it a wonderful moment when we as a school can embrace the enduring values that Walter Hussman Jr. learned here years ago. We believe in those values, and they will better prepare generations of students for influential careers in the evolving fields of journalism and media.”
READ MORE: From Daily to Digital: Walter Hussman and the Future of Newsmedia