Comm school raises $100 mil

On Monday, the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism announced it had raised more than $100 million since launching its major fundraising initiative in the fall of 2012.

Annenberg’s fundraising initiative is part of a larger university-wide campaign to raise $6 billion to improve academic programs and outreach throughout the university.

The school’s goal is to raise $150 million by June 2018. The initiative coincides with the construction of Wallis Annenberg Hall, which will open in fall of 2014. Much of the technology featured in the new building will be paid for by these donations.

According to Annenberg News, the final donation that allowed them to reach the $100 million mark came from Denise Novoselski in memory of her husband, Tim. The Novoselskis both attended USC in the 1970s and met while working at the Daily Trojan. Tim came to Annenberg on a scholarship.

“Shortly after Tim died, I was considering bequests and I thought it was important to give another young person an opportunity like Tim had,” Denise Novoselski told Annenberg News. “Helping those who want to go into journalism is critically important.”

Annenberg reports contributions from more than 3,000 donors, 88 percent of whom gave less than $1 thousand. Seventy-nine percent of donations came from alumni.

In addition to the establishment of scholarship funds and increased investment in digital technologies, an Annenberg spokesperson also said the money will go toward the endowment of the Jayne and Hans Hufschmid Chair in Strategic Public Relations and Business Communication. This will  contribute to the interdisciplinary study and research into the intersection of communication and business.

The spokesperson also said that a donation from Thomas Campbell Jackson and Penny Jackson will establish a science and technology fellowship for the USC Annenberg Master’s of Specialized Journalism program.

Diana Bernal O’Leary, associate dean of development and external relations for USC Annenberg, said the fundraising effort was a good representation of the lifelong commitment to the Trojan community.

“This is a great example of the dedication of the Trojan Family,” O’Leary said in an email. “Alumni, parents and friends nationwide — and even a few around the globe — have made supporting USC Annenberg a priority,” O’Leary said in an email. “We are grateful and inspired by their generosity.”

Novoselski told Annenberg News her husband would have been proud to be a part of such an influential campaign.

“Tim never would have envisioned that he would be memorialized with an endowment to USC that was to become so significant.”