The Hearst Foundations have awarded a $500,000 grant to Quinnipiac University to establish scholarships for underrepresented students enrolled in QU’s School of Communications.
Each year, two undergraduate students will be chosen to receive scholarships from the William Randolph Hearst Endowed Scholarship Fund at Quinnipiac. Eligible students must have graduated in the top 20 percent of their high school class and score at least 1,200 on the SAT or 25 on the ACT.
“We are delighted with the significant gift from the Hearst Foundations to attract and retain high-performing, underrepresented students at the School of Communications at Quinnipiac,” said School of Communications Dean Mark Contreras in a statement. “This Hearst grant will create a more representative and diverse student body at the school moving forward.”
The two inaugural Hearst scholars will be selected for the autumn 2019 semester, and two additional scholars will be chosen each of the next four years, resulting in eight Hearst scholars by the fall 2022 term.
Said George Irish, Eastern director of the Hearst Foundations: “The Hearst Foundations are committed to supporting organizations that can make significant contributions to the communities they serve. We have been impressed with the programs, faculty and staff at the School of Communications and are excited to begin this partnership with Quinnipiac.”
The Hearst Foundations are the namesake of William Randolph Hearst, the legendary 19th- and 20th-century American newspaper publisher (New York Journal, San Francisco Examiner) whose aggressive and often-sensational approach to news coverage gave birth to the term “yellow journalism.” The thinly veiled subject of the 1941 cinematic masterpiece Citizen Kane, Hearst built a newspaper and media empire of unparalleled scope and influence that spanned two centuries up to his death in 1951 at 88 years of age.
Today one of his successor companies, Hearst Media, owns many daily newspapers, including in Connecticut the New Haven Register, Connecticut Post, Norwalk Hour, Stamford Advocate, Greenwich Time and Danbury News-Times.
Quinnipiac’s School of Communications offers undergraduate majors in advertising and integrated communications; communications and media studies; film, television and media arts; graphic and interactive design; journalism; and public relations. It also offers accelerated programs and dual-degree programs in interactive media and communications; journalism; public relations; and sports journalism.
The Mount Carmel school also offers graduate programs in interactive media and communications, journalism, public relations and sports journalism. The school enrolls some 900 undergraduate and 130 graduate students.
Contact Michael C. Bingham at mbingham@newhavenbiz.com
