In the last decade, the Foundation has made to major gifts to higher education that were substantially larger than the Foundation's usual grants, which typically range in size from $5,000 to $50,000. In 2007, The Belo Foundation, Robert W. and Maureen H. Decherd, and the estate of James M. Moroney Jr. and the Moroney family pledged $15 million to establish the Belo Center for New Media at The University of Texas at Austin College of Communication. The Belo Center for New Media will enable students to combine traditional and progressive media methods to shape the ideas and create the techniques that will change the face of communication in the future. The Belo Center for New Media will feature state-of-the-art classrooms, advanced production labs and seminar rooms, along with large auditorium spaces for introductory classes, film showings and conferences. The majority of the gift, $12 million, was pledged from The Belo Foundation while the balance of the gift was pledged from Robert Decherd and Maureen Decherd, and the estate of Jim Moroney Jr. and the Moroney family.
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In 2000, The Belo Foundation and the Division of Journalism of Southern Methodist University established a substantive partnership to create a culture and infrastructure in which the skills of print journalists, broadcasters, and online content providers would be interrelated in the academy as well as the profession. This collaboration resulted in a strategic plan to develop an integrated curriculum in the classroom, laboratory, and studio; to recruit an endowed Belo Distinguished Chair and other faculty with notable academic and professional expertise; to create a journalism complex and digital newsroom; and to establish permanent endowments to enhance faculty development, programmatic enrichment, and student scholarships. SMU is now developing a new, two-phase approach to teaching 21st century journalists. This concept includes revised curriculum to teach students to develop and produce relevant and ethical content in all media, supported by the state-of-the-art digital newsroom and studio. In addition, cooperative courses with the business, law, theology, arts, and sports disciplines will bring together the entire campus through production and distribution of news, concerts, lectures, recitals, shows, sports, and other events as programming for the television and radio studios. The Belo Foundation seeded the initial phase of the plan with a gift of $5 million. This gift enabled the Division to establish the Belo Distinguished Chair and to complete the complex, which opened in January 2003. The University now seeks support to purchase, operate, and maintain equipment for the digital newsroom and studio and to provide endowments for faculty recruitment and student programs. |
