note from the chair

Department has momentum going into spring fundraising auction

By David Domke
Department Chair

In 2010 we held our first Student Fundraiser Spring Auction. It was an amazing success: We raised $40,000, with every dollar going to students. The momentum continued thereafter with two current-use funds from alumni and a foundation gift in support of research:

• The Dolores Eyler fund with a generous financial gift from Ms. Dolores Eyler. This fund supports students when they encounter unexpected financial hardships. These hardships, as we all know, can be big or small: an unexpected car repair bill, a layoff, a costly plane trip home for a family emergency. This fund seeks to lighten the burden of students confronted with such challenges when they are trying to work on their studies.
• A generous gift from University of Washington alumni Mr. and Mrs. Harold Levy ('29) has allowed the Department of Communication to establish a loan fund for students committed to careers in communication and related fields. The Levy Loan Fund is designed to help individuals offset the increasingly high costs of education; its monies are available only to undergraduate and graduate students admitted to and currently enrolled in the Department of Communication. The loan can be forgiven if students accomplish an identified set of deliverables.
• We also received a $25,000 gift from The Torrance Foundation to fund a research project examining business news coverage on Fox Business News and CNBC cable TV networks. This project contained significant support for two graduate students.

This year our second Student Fundraiser Spring Auction takes place on Thursday, April 28. I hope you can join us for a fun evening and a good cause. There will be a reception with complimentary food and drink, a silent auction, live auction, and touching student stories from graduate and undergraduate students. Our mission is to provide a transformative education and we do so with the generous support of our alumni and friends.

The event begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Center for Urban Horticulture. To register, visit our website or call (206) 724-3580.

Our featured guest is Wallie Funk. Wallie was a longtime, influential newspaper publisher in Washington state. Now he is a member of our Department’s Alumni Hall of Fame and an ambassador for keeping our Olympia Legislative Reporting internship thriving and sustainable. He is also a great friend to the Department and one of our recent grads due to a clerical error that kept him from his degree for 40 years!

A couple current students will share inspirational stories on how private donations gave them once-in-a-lifetime academic experiences. If you cannot attend, please consider supporting our students with a donation online. Or call Communication Department Outreach Manager Victoria Sprang at (206) 724-3580. Thank you, thank you. Your support makes a HUGE difference for our students.