A new endowed chair in Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications will help lead the school’s continued efforts toward expanding teaching and innovation in digital and new media.
The Peter A. Horvitz Endowed Chair in Journalism Innovation will develop and teach new courses that will allow students to explore the intersection of journalism and technology, and will work collaboratively to develop new content models and new forms of storytelling. The chair will also serve as director of a proposed Center for Journalism Innovation and help seek external funding for new research initiatives, including through industry partnerships and alliances.
The Newhouse School is currently seeking candidates for the position. For more information or to apply, see http://jobopps.syr.edu (job #028438).
“The ideal candidate will be an innovator—an entrepreneur in the evolving revolution as to how news and information will be delivered,” says Newhouse Dean Lorraine Branham. “We need a visionary with a track record of leading change.”
The chair is funded by Newhouse alumnus Peter Horvitz ’76, chairman, president and CEO of Horvitz Newspapers, LLC. “I can think of no better way to support the future of journalism and give back to the profession I love than to fund this new chair at Newhouse,” he says.
During his newspaper career, Horvitz was president and publisher of King County Journal Newspapers in Washington State; Marin (Calif.) Independent Journal; and Chillicothe (Ohio) Gazette. He began his career at the Lorain (Ohio) Journal and Lake County (Ohio) News-Herald. He is a member of the Newhouse Advisory Board and the Syracuse University Board of Trustees.
Counted in the total of The Campaign for Syracuse University, the Horvitz gift will be bolstered through Faculty Today, a gift challenge program created to encourage donors to endow faculty chairs and professorships. Designed to accelerate the University’s ability to recruit and retain world-class faculty, Faculty Today will supplement The Peter A. Horvitz Endowed Chair in Journalism Innovation for the first five years. The Faculty Today program was developed by the SU Board of Trustees, which allocated $30 million from the University’s endowment in support of this initiative. To learn more about Faculty Today and view a progress report, visit http://facultytoday.syr.edu.
With a goal of $1 billion, The Campaign for Syracuse University is the most ambitious fundraising effort in SU’s history. By supporting student access, faculty excellence, interdisciplinary programs, capital projects and other institutional priorities, the campaign is continuing to drive Scholarship in Action, the University’s vision to provide students, faculty and communities with the insights needed to incite positive and lasting change in the world. Officially launched in November 2007, the five-year effort has raised more than $940 million, with less than one year left to achieve its goal by the end of 2012. More information is available online at campaign.syr.edu.
For more information about The Peter A. Horvitz Endowed Chair in Journalism Innovation, contact Steve Davis at (315) 443-3371 or jsdavi02@syr.edu.
