Reilly Family to Fund Endowed Chair in Media Literacy

December 13, 2006 — Kevin Reilly Sr., and Dee Dee Reilly, through the Reilly Family Foundation, will fund a double endowed chair in media literacy in LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication. The chair will be named for Dee Dee Reilly’s brother, Wendell Gray Switzer, Jr., Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy who lost his life while on active duty.

“ This extraordinary gift once again showcases the Reilly’s innovative and thoughtful dedication to an informed citizenry, said John Maxwell Hamilton, dean of the Manship School. The need to equip Americans to understand how to distinguish responsible journalism and advertising is increasing with the advent of so many new sources of unfiltered information.

“ A vigorous media helps inform citizens of current issues, governmental policies and with public debate, but it is essential that the public knows how to interpret what they read, see or hear in the news. The Switzer Chair in Media Literacy will advance teaching and research around this premise.”

The $1.2 million gift is eligible for a Louisiana Board of Regents match that will provide a total of $2 million for a double endowed chair. This chair is the first of its kind in the country.

In addition to teaching journalism students, the chair will enable LSU to become a leader in teaching non-journalism students on college campuses to become knowledgeable and analytical consumers of the news. National leadership in this area will include distribution of course materials, research that explores why citizens turn off the television or choose not to read a newspaper, and ideas on how to improve citizens’ ability to retrieve information in order to make well-informed decisions.

“ An informed public capable of comprehending and assimilating the barrage of information available through the media today is the cornerstone of our freedom,” said Dee Dee and Kevin Reilly, Sr.

The Manship School offers degree programs at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels focused specifically on media and public affairs. The Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs, established in 2000, is an integral component of the school’s dedication to help advance public participation in governance. To this end, the Chair will work with the Reilly Center to conduct workshops, surveys and symposia that will bring new ideas to journalists and mass communication educators.

This chair will be the fifth endowed chair in the Manship School. Distinguished faculty and professionals who have occupied the other four chairs include Sig Mickelson, the first president of CBS News; Bill Dickinson, founder of the Washington Post Writers Group, winner of eight Pulitzer Prizes under his leadership; George Lockwood, former managing editor of the Milwaukee Journal and a Pulitzer Prize winner; and Tim Cook, award-winning author and the first occupant of the Laurence Lombard Chair at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.