Purdue school ups its assets by $3M after anonymous gift

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - One of Purdue’s schools got a big boost this week with a $2 million anonymous donation paired with another $1 million in University funds going toward the school's faculty, students and other programs.

The Brian Lamb School of Communication received the $2-million gift this week, which will be matched by the $1 million in University funds.

"This donation will benefit every aspect of the Lamb School: its faculty, its students and its programs," Purdue President Mitch Daniels said. "And the donor has chosen two options that will allow Purdue to add funding, increasing the value of an already-substantial gift."

Named for the founder of C-SPAN, the Brian Lamb School of Communication was established in 2011.

"We knew from the beginning that securing funding to support the Lamb School's strategic vision would be key to its success," Justin S. Morrill Dean of the College of Liberal Arts Irwin Weiser said. "This gift generously supports that goal."

The gift is set up in three parts.

Firstly, $750,000 will go toward creating the C-SPAN Chair for a clinical professor with a specialization in political communication, social communication, media and networks, emerging technologies, or civic communication/engagement. This money will be matched by an equal amount though Purdue's Faculty Excellence Challenge Match, designed to endow new professorships.

Next, $250,000 will create the Lamb Scholars, making undergrad scholarships available to Hoosier students. That money will be matched by an equal amount through the Indiana Challenge Match, which is meant to help the University offer financial aid to Indiana students.

And the last $1 million will be used as unrestricted funds by the Lamb School in pursuit of its strategic objectives. The University says a focus will be on engagement opportunities and co-curricular experiences such as those offered by Project Impact, as well as projects that push the use of the C-SPAN Archives in research and teaching.

"We in the Lamb School are excited about the initiatives this gift will help bring about," said Steven Wilson, interim head of the school. "We're gratified to have such a strong show of external support for our work and mission."

Brian Lamb got his bachelor’s degree in speech from Purdue in 1963 and earned an honorary doctorate in 1986. He founded C-SPAN (Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network) in 1977 and the network’s first telecasts of the U.S. House of Representatives began 2 years later.

There are currently three C-SPAN networks offering 24-7 coverage of the political process.

In 1987 Lamb designated Purdue as the home of the C-SPAN Archives, which records, indexes and archives all C-SPAN programming for historical, educational and research uses. The archives, operated and funded by C-SPAN, are located in the Purdue Research Park.