Summer 2005 - School of Journalism and Mass Communications

Development News
cost, Bierbauer said.
The legislative portion would come
from an education bond bill expected to
pass next year. Ideally, Bierbauer said,
that would cover about half the cost.
That means at least $12.5 million in
private donations will be needed.
Bierbauer, along with the College’s
development director, Kim Bowman;
Carter; and Dr. Dan Barron, director of
the School of Library and Information
Science, has started the process of
finding and cultivating relationships
with alumni, corporate leaders, and
journalism and mass communications
organizations.
They’re asking two questions: How
did this School make a difference in
your life? And how will you make a
difference in the School’s future?
“We aim to find out what drives the
personal connection between alumni
and the School, ” Bierbauer said. “Was
it a certain professor? A certain course?
Their first byline in the University
newspaper?”
From the basement of the Coliseum,
Bowman has the primary job of getting
those answers and developing a capital
campaign to raise the needed funds.
“Kim will get the job done,”
Bierbauer said. “She possesses the
two most important qualities of a good
development person. She cares and she’s
enthusiastic.”
Bowman says the campaign officially
begins fall 2006. Before then, she hopes
to have commitments for several large
donations and naming opportunites.
Ultimately, she said, alumni support
will determine the move’s success. Now,
however, she is focused on forming
relationships with media organizations
like Gannett and Knight-Ridder, but
especially South Carolina’s familyowned
daily and weekly newspapers.
“So many of our students get their
starts at these smaller newspapers or
in smaller radio and TV markets,”
she said. “It’s important that these
organizations be part of this project from
the beginning. We wouldn’t want to do it
without them.”
View of the j-school’s new 250-seat auditorium.
Bowman said the School’s top
message needs to be that while many
times during the past few decades there
has been talk about relocating, this time
“it’s really going to happen.”
“We need people to be enthusiastic
and excited about this project,” she said.
“We’ve got to have people believing that
this is the right project at the right time
and that it’s good for our students, staff,
faculty and University.”
Better facilities will help recruit
students and improve relations with
alumni, Bowman said. The move also
is vital to the School’s primary goal
of becoming one of the top five in
the country for journalism and mass
communications education.
“This School has been successful
for decades from the basement of the
Coliseum. We have won awards, books
have been written, students have gone
on and done amazing things,” she said.
“Imagine what we can do in a new
building.”
The School wants to become a
global leader in convergent media
and in the communication of public
The 70,000-square-foot building will be centrally-located on Gibbes Green at
the heart of the USC campus.
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