Future Funding for Journalists
A $100,000 donation from the Marajen Stevick Foundation in honor of former News-Gazette Publisher John Foreman will fund internships for young journalists at the University of Illinois.
The not-for-profit foundation has endowed the John R. Foreman Fund at the UI College of Media to support paid summer internships for journalism students.
The fund recognizes Foreman's "outstanding service" to The New-Gazette, the community and the profession of journalism, according to current Publisher and CEO John Reed.
"We thought this would have tremendous, lasting impact and effect, and really fulfill our desire to create a legacy in the field which John loves," said John Hecker, president of the Stevick Foundation Board of Directors.
The Stevick Foundation owns The News-Gazette Inc., which in turn owns The News-Gazette, eight area newspapers and three radio stations, publishes three magazines and maintains 15 websites.
Hecker said the board wanted to find an appropriate way to recognize Foreman for his 38 years of service — first as a reporter, then editor, publisher and now president of the corporation.
Foreman is a graduate of the UI's Journalism Department and knows many of the faculty members there, Hecker said. The Stevick Foundation has also funded journalism awards and other programs in the Department of Journalism, including a recent $40,000 grant to the C-U Citizen Access Project.