A grant from the Annenberg Foundation will establish the Walter H. Annenberg-Edmund P. Joyce Chair in American Studies and Journalism at the University of Notre Dame, to be occupied by Robert Schmuhl, professor of American studies and founding director of the Universitys John W. Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics and Democracy. Schmuhls appointment is effective next month.
The gift will endow the new professorship and strengthen the Universitys work in journalism education and scholarship.
In the past decade, Notre Dame has developed a distinctive approach to the education of future journalists,said Mark Roche, I.A. OShaughnessy Dean of theCollegeofArtsand Letters.Students major in a traditional discipline, but receive professional experience and enroll in courses that foster ethical sensitivity and a deep understanding of the responsibilities journalists have in American democracy.
Established by Schmuhl a decade ago, the Gallivan Program has received national recognition for its method of journalism education. Unlike traditional journalism instruction, the Gallivan Program subordinates technical training and emphasizes ethical and social dimensions of journalistic instruction.
Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C, president emeritus of the University, said:By establishing this chair, the Annenberg Foundation substantially strengthens Notre Dames work in American studies and journalism. The gift also celebrates the long and deep friendship between Ambassador Annenberg and Father Joyce. In its way, this endowment perpetuates that wonderful friendshipto the benefit of Notre Dame and American journalism.
Annenberg, a leading figure in American communications, served as ambassador to theCourt of St. James inGreat Britainfrom 1969 to 1974. Prior to his death in 2002, he was internationally recognized for his philanthropy, donating an estimated $2 billion in his lifetime. Father Joyce served as Notre Dames executive vice president from 1952 until 1987 and worked with Annenberg to facilitate his many benefactions to the University.Father Joyce died in 2004.
A member of the Notre Dame faculty since 1980, Schmuhl is one of the nations leading authorities on journalism, politics and the media. He is the author or editor of 10 books, includingStatecraft and Stagecraft: American Political Life in the Age of Personality,Wounded Titans: American Presidents and the Perils of PowerandIndecent Liberties.His new collection of essays,In So Many Words: Arguments and Adventures,is scheduled for publication by Notre Dame Press in September.
Besides being a frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines, Schmuhl has appeared on numerous television and radio programs in theU.S.and abroad. He served as a member of the Institutions of American Democracy project created by the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands and wrote a section of its volume,The Press,published last year by the Oxford University Press.
The Annenberg Foundation, established in 1989, seeks to advance public well-being through improved communication. In its first 15 years, the foundation awarded some 5,200 grants, totaling nearly $3 billion, in education, the arts, civic life and health.
Notre Dames work combining journalism, ethics and democracy began in 1997 with a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Endowment gifts from the family of John W. Gallivan in 1999 enlarged the scope of the program and ensured its permanence.
Gallivan, a 1937 Notre Dame graduate and classmate of Father Joyce, is former chairman of the board of Kearns-Tribune Corporation and publisher emeritus of the Salt Lake Tribune. He and eight other Notre Dame graduates in journalism serve on the advisory committee that helps guide the Gallivan Program.
TopicID: 18463