Giving Illustration

Giving

Switzler Hall

Department of Communication Gifts Fund

While the Department of Communication at Mizzou continues to grow – we now have the largest number of Communication majors in the Department’s history – our growth comes at a time of reduced budget allocations that we normally rely on to fund important needs. Whether supporting our undergraduate student organizations, funding the vital research efforts of our graduate students and faculty, or equipping our classrooms with the latest instructional technology, the demands to sustain one of the largest academic units at MU are many.

A donation to the Department of Communication Gifts Fund provides us with maximum impact in responding to our greatest needs. As this is not an endowed account, the entirety of one’s gift is available immediately for Department needs. It’s only through the generosity and support of our many alumni and friends that we’re able to maintain the margin of excellence that allows Mizzou Comm to thrive!

Department of Communication Gifts Fund
Michael J. Porter Chair’s Enhancement Fund

Michael J. Porter Chair’s Enhancement Fund

After 35 years of service to Mizzou as a professor, advisor and Chair of the Department of Communication, Dr. Michael J. Porter retired in 2014. Thousands of students, from those who experienced his introductory radio and TV classes to those he mentored as a doctoral advisor, have been touched by Dr. Porter’s efforts.

In honor of Dr. Porter’s dedication to MU and the Department of Communication, his colleagues, friends, family and former students established the Michael J. Porter Chair’s Enhancement Fund. This endowed fund will provide assistance where it is needed most, including supporting scholarships, internship opportunities, and faculty enhancement. In this way, Dr. Porter will continue to shape the Department of Communication for years to come.

Michael J. Porter Chair’s Enhancement Fund
Lindsay Wright completed a summer internships in Washington, DC with a Summer Internship Scholarship.

Communication Student Opportunities Fund

Completing internships and participating in educational opportunities outside the classroom makes students more marketable when searching for professional employment. However, many students aren't able to take advantage of the best internship experiences because most are unpaid and financial aid won't cover the costs.

Thankfully, MU communication students now have a scholarship opportunity to help address these needs. The Communication Student Opportunities Fund was established by the Advisory Council of the Department of Communication to provide student summer scholarships to help support internship opportunities. This new fund needs additional alumni assistance to continue supporting the extracurricular education of communication students. Our goal is to award up to three students $2,000 each in coming years.

Previous student scholarship winners have completed summer internships at the Pentagon, FOX Sports, CNN, the American Red Cross, and more. These experiences would not have been possible without this scholarship.

Communication Student Opportunities Fund
Rebecca Verser & Alumni Graduate Student Support Fund

Rebecca Verser & Alumni Graduate Student Support Fund 

This fund was established in 2001 by the faculty in the Department of Communication and subsequently renamed to honor Rebecca Verser, a 2007 doctoral graduate of our program. In 2010, while an Assistant Professor at New Mexico State University, Rebecca died from an autoimmune disorder at the age of 35.

Rebecca Verser embodied many of the very best qualities of the ideal graduate student. While at Mizzou, she assumed a leadership role among the graduate student association; and she was passionate about helping raise funds to assist her fellow graduate students with their travel to conventions to present papers or to help them defray research costs associated with their dissertation projects.

Each year, a number of grants from the Verser Graduate Student Support Fund provide financial assistance to our graduate students for dissertation research support, travel expenses, or research fellowship stipends. Requests for this support, however, always far exceed the available funds. Please make a gift to this endowment and support the important research and career development of our many graduate students.

Rebecca Verser & Alumni Graduate Student Support Fund
Loren Reid Opportunities for Excellence Fund

Loren Reid Opportunities for Excellence Fund

This endowed fund was created in 1995 by Loren and Gus Reid on the occasion of Loren Reid’s 90th birthday. Dr. Reid joined the Department of Speech and Dramatic Art (now the Department of Communication) at MU in 1944 as Professor of Speech, just four years after the Department was founded. He remained a member of the Mizzou faculty until his retirement in 1975. Loren Reid received one of the first PhD’s in Communication (from the University of Iowa), and during his long career at MU he was recognized as a leading figure within the emerging Communication discipline, including service as President of the Speech Association of America in 1957 (now the National Communication Association). Loren Reid passed away on December 25, 2014 at the age of 109.

When establishing this fund, Loren Reid’s desire was to provide support that would enhance the professional growth of faculty and students, stimulating opportunities for teaching, research and service that would transform a good program into a great program. Currently, this fund supports a number of important activities and initiatives, including The Loren Reid Lecture Series that brings back to campus the Department’s distinguished doctoral graduates, and also undergraduate and graduate student awards named in Reid’s honor, including The Loren Reid Outstanding Senior Award for Department Service & Leadership and The Loren Reid Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award.

Throughout his remarkable life and career, Professor Reid embodied all that is noble about our profession. Through his teaching and scholarship, his service, and his work with generations of students, he helped pioneer and shape the Communication discipline. A gift to the Loren Reid Opportunities for Excellence Fund will allow us continue Professor Reid’s vision of building a truly great Department of Communication at Mizzou.

Loren Reid Opportunities for Excellence Fund