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Local broadcaster donates $3.5 million to UNC program
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Published: October 2, 2009
CHAPEL HILL - The UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication said yesterday that a $3.5 million gift -- the largest single gift by an individual to the school -- has been made by the estate of alumnus Reese Felts.
Felts, a 1952 UNC graduate, died earlier this year. He worked for nearly 30 years as a radio and television broadcaster in Winston-Salem, primarily with WSJS and WXII, before retiring in 1980.
The gift is being used to launch a major experimental student-news project and audience-research initiative. It also will pay for a distinguished professorship in the school, said Jean Folkerts, the dean of the school.
"The journalism school instilled Reese with an almost-religious awe of the role of journalism in our society and the profound importance of a free and responsible press," said Cowles Liipfert, Felts' attorney and friend.
The school will transform one of its classrooms into a 24-hour newsroom where students will work with faculty to produce and distribute news for a variety of audiences.
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