March 17, 2008
Bowling
Green, Ky. - Neil Budde and his wife, Virginia (Ginny) Edwards, of Washington, D.C., recently made a $150,000 gift in support of the Adams-Whitaker Student Publications Building at Western Kentucky University. In appreciation, WKU named the newsroom in the facility in their honor.
A grassroots fund-raising campaign by Student Publications alumni helped raise more than $1 million for the $1.6 million facility. Located across from the Mass Media and Technology Hall, the building houses both the College Heights Herald newspaper and the Talisman yearbook.
The School of Journalism & Broadcasting will welcome Neil Budde to campus Tuesday through Thursday (March 18-20). Budde, who served as the Donald W. Reynolds Fellow at Washington and Lee University, will be serving as the first Turner Visiting Professor at WKU.
A 1977 graduate of the School of Journalism & Broadcasting, Budde was active with the College Heights Herald, serving as its editor in 1976. He received his MBA from the University of Louisville. “The Herald made a big impact on me and my career and I wanted to ensure it would continue to do so for future generations,” Budde said. “On the Herald, we were treated as professionals from the start and given tremendous responsibility. That made the transition to work world easy.”
Budde has 30 years of experience working for newspapers and online publishers. He most recently was vice president and editor in chief of Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance and Yahoo! Sports. He was inducted into WKU’s Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 2005.
Edwards, who graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1978, has a high regard for WKU’s journalism and student publications programs. “More than 30 years later, I’m still drawing on the incredible experience I gained as a student journalist,” she said. “The four years I spent working for my college newspaper clearly set me on a path that has taken me to where I am today. Talk about connecting college to the world of work!”
Edwards is editor of Education Week, a position she has held since 1995. She oversees a staff of nearly 50 editors, reporters and graphic artists.
Pam Johnson, head of WKU’s School of Journalism & Broadcasting, is excited to have the opportunity to connect Budde with students while he is on campus. “Journalism is undergoing a transformation that is driven by the Web,” she said. “Many people are obtaining their information from the Web and the School of Journalism & Broadcasting is challenged to revise our curriculum to meet the needs of the industry. The industry wants employees who can excel in one area of journalism and also do other areas of journalism. For example, a newspaper reporter would go out on an assignment, and then report it on the Web and also perhaps take video, audio and pictures while on the assignment.”
Budde will offer great insight for students, Dr. Johnson explained. “Neil Budde is a pioneer in online journalism,” she said. “The School of Journalism & Broadcasting is very fortunate to have him to meet with our students and faculty. While he is on campus, Budde will also review the curriculum revisions the school has planned and meet with students in their classes.”
Robert Adams, director of WKU Student Publications, said he is pleased to have the Budde and Edwards names associated with the new facility. “Having Neil Budde’s name on the newsroom in the student publications building is so appropriate because Neil is a visionary and highly respected by his peers,” he said. “That’s exactly what we hope our newsroom represents. We want it to be functional as the newsroom of today and flexible and adaptable as the newsroom of the future. We also want the students who work in this newsroom to be held in high esteem by the students, faculty and staff who are the primary readers of the Herald and Talisman and to be respected by their peers at newspapers and yearbooks across the country.
“Likewise, Ginny is a prominent journalist with a long and distinguished career,” he continued. “We’re certainly proud to claim both of them as friends as well as significant contributors to WKU.”
Adams said the Student Publications Building exists because of important friends like Budde and Edwards. “One of the greatest sources of pride we share with every visitor is that this wonderful building is here because of alumni and friends who valued their experience on the Herald and/or Talisman,” he said. “The Adams-Whitaker Student Publications Center is the only building on campus that is here because dedicated, loyal alumni contributed the majority of the cost of construction.”
The Turner Professorship was established in 2003 by Margaret and Cal Turner. Budde is the first visiting professor to serve in this capacity.
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
For information, contact Tom Hiles at (270) 745-6208.
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