Atwood Chair of Journalism endowed with $1.4M gift from Atwood Foundation

UAA announced today that the Atwood Foundation pledged $1.4M to endow the Robert B. Atwood Chair of Journalism within the UAA Department of Journalism and Public Communications.

The Atwood Chair was created in 1980 by a generous gift of $100,000 from Bob Atwood to bring cutting-edge journalists to UAA to share their real world experiences with UAA's students.

Since its beginning in 1980, 17 prestigious professional journalists have held the Atwood Chair post, including Julius Strauss, Pat Yack and Carole Rich.

For most of its history, the Atwood Chair was not what many consider a "chair" position, which is a permanently endowed position. Bob Atwood paid for it year-to-year personally until he created the Atwood Foundation. In 2008, Bob Reeves (deceased), the Foundation's executive director at the time, and board member Bill Tobin (deceased), led an effort to endow the Atwood Chair. The rest of the board agreed with the duo's proposal and pledged a $1M gift that year.

Today's $1.4M gift by the Atwood Foundation creates the fourth endowed chair at UAA and cements the charitable legacy and vision of Bob Atwood.

With $100,000 left to fulfill the $2.5M total cost of endowing the Atwood Chair, the Atwood Foundation is encouraging UAA alumni and the journalism community to help raise the remaining funds to reach the necessary goal of full funding for this position.

UAA Chancellor Tom Case and JPC alumna Natalie Lowman '83 made the first gifts toward meeting the $100,000 goal today at the Atwood Chair of Journalism gift presentation, held in the Journalism Television Studio in the Professional Studies Building on UAA's campus.