Groundbreaking ceremony set for April 22

Groundbreaking for a new building that will once again bring print, photo and broadcast journalism programs under one roof is set for April 22.

UM President George Dennison has given the go-ahead for the groundbreaking after the school reached $10 million in pledges toward its final goal of $12 million. Dean Jerry Brown has under way a campaign to reach the goal with the help of alumni and friends of the school.

In January the Montana Board of Regents approved the naming of the building for Don Anderson, a Montana native and executive with Lee Enterprises and the man who negotiated the purchase of the Anaconda Co. newspapers. Anderson’s role in the purchase was significant because Lee was not the high bidder in the battle to win ownership of the papers controlled by the mining giant. Anderson was, however, able to persuade the company to make the deal and that change of ownership is noted by historians for freeing the state’s press from the confines of the “copper collar.”

Discussion of a campaign to raise the money for a new facility was begun in the summer of 1997. Acting Dean Joe Durso called print and broadcast faculty together to seek their approval after the strains of managing and teaching in a program scattered across campus became an issue that was affecting instruction. The school operates out of three buildings, using classrooms and labs that are too few, too small and hopelessly outdated. When the present structure was built in 1936 the school had fewer than 100 majors and television was but a nascent experiment; today, even with restricted enrollment, the school has more than 500 majors in print, photojournalism and broadcast news and production.

Even so, the decision wasn’t made without some reservations.

“I love this old building,” said Carol Van Valkenburg, who has the longest association with the building of any present member of the faculty. She graduated from the J-School in 1972 and began teaching at UM in 1982. But Van Valkenburg said she knew she had to overcome the emotional connection she felt and acknowledge the reality that the school had outgrown its present quarters and that further attempts to remodel and expand the old structure just weren’t feasible.

It was at that initial meeting that the proposal to name the building in honor of Anderson was accepted unanimously by the faculty.

Both UM and journalism administrators on several occasions discussed proposals to seek funding for the building from the Montana Legislature. However, those proposals were put on hold because the economic climate in the state made state funding of university buildings politically impossible.

When Dean Jerry Brown came to the school in 1999 he made finding funding for a new building a priority. He first had to win agreement from the Legislature for “spending authority” for a new building. That meant only that he had permission to seek private donations and, once secured, could use those donations to fund construction.

Dean Brown enlisted the help of John Talbot, a former Missoulian publisher who for many years taught a media management course at the J-School and who was the son-in-law of Don Anderson.

Together Brown and Talbot, in consultation with Sue Talbot, the faculty and the Journalism Advisory Council, set about raising the money for the school.
After several years, scores of phone calls, hundreds of hours and thousands of miles, the team reached the $10 million mark in January. Major donors include Lloyd and Betty Schermer, the Talbot family, Lee Enterprises, the Howard Charitable Foundation, Ben and Alice Pollner, Stephen and Margaret Tse, the Walter and Dorothy Jones Frautschi Charitable Trust, Penny and Gerald Peabody and UM.

Many other generous donations have also helped the school near its goal. Now Dean Brown hopes alumni and friends will help the school reach the $12 million mark.

The groundbreaking will coincide with Dean Stone festivities. The shovel-turning ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m. The site of the new facility is east of the Liberal Arts building and north of Jeannette Rankin Hall.

That evening, former Baltimore Sun editor William K. Marimow will deliver the Dean Stone Lecture at 7:30 in the University Center Theater.

The following evening, April 23, is the Dean Stone banquet, at which the school will award more than $80,000 in scholarships. The event, at the Holiday Inn Parkside, begins with a reception at 5 p.m. and dinner at 6 p.m.

If you'd like more information about contributing to the new journalism building, contact Dean Jerry Brown.

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