Indiana University School of Journalism

Home » Alumni News » Campaign nets $6 million for school

The two largest scholarships in the history of the School of Journalism rounded out a successful fundraising campaign that brought $6 million in donations to support students, programs and projects in the school. The effort was part of the Matching the Promise campaign, which raised $1.1 billion for the Bloomington campus. The School of Journalism’s goal was $5 million.

Marty Anderson, BA’57, former Associated Press reporter and editor, gave $1.3 million to fund scholarships for students who might otherwise not be able to afford a journalism education. And the late Frank Arganbright, BA’49, whose career included reporting and editing at the (Lafayette, Ind.) Journal and Courier as well as working for the Purdue University News Service, donated $1.1 million in his estate to support education in public affairs reporting.

Journalism dean Brad Hamm said Anderson and Arganbright don’t fit the stereotype of major donors. Longtime bachelors, both lived modestly and quietly, devoting their lives to their careers. Anderson didn’t marry until his late 60s, and Arganbright never married. Neither had children.

Just as important as the major scholarships, Hamm said, were the hundreds of smaller gifts that will help students travel overseas and study specialties such as sports or business reporting.

The boost in scholarship funding will help the school provide four-year as well as short-term scholarships, meeting one of the goals of the campus campaign to attract top students to the campus.

“The impact of these scholarships will last forever,” Hamm said.

Other gifts will support programs and projects in the school, including a donation by Jim and Susan (Bassett) Hetherington to pay for plaques celebrating the school’s centenary in 2011. Both graduated from the school in 1953.

Curt Simic, who was president of the IU Foundation when the campaign began in 2003, said the matching aspect of the campaign was important. The Bloomington campus matched the income on each donation, assuring donors that their gifts would yield the maximum benefit.

Matt Morris, BA’80, a journalism alumnus who until the spring was the school’s liaison at the IU Foundation, said that in his visits with donors, he frequently witnessed their affection for the school and the bonds they had maintained over time.

“The school has touched lives in so many different ways, and for every donor it’s different,” Morris said. “They may have been at the Indiana Daily Student, the High School Journalism Institute or be a past professor. The journalism program is like a family.”

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