Giving to the ICR

As you know, the Institute of Communications Research is a vibrant center of intellectual productivity and interdisciplinary teaching and research. But because of the statewide and nationwide budget crisis, we are threatened with severe losses in state funding.

Under Cliff Christians' and Paula Treichler's outstanding stewardship, the Institute developed a longterm strategic plan that we continue to follow. The faculty of the Institute more than doubled in the last decade and now constitutes a constellation of shining and rising stars. At the same time, the diversity of our student body and faculty has significantly broadened with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity. We have moved to a fully-renovated space in Gregory Hall. We are in the process of revising both the graduate and undergraduate curriculum to reflect changes in the faculty and in the field; notably, we have added courses in television and film, in political economy and communication policy, and in race, ethnicity, and media.

Alongside these significant changes, the Institute retains the character, excellence, and flexibility that you remember. Faculty and students continue to do unique and exciting interdisciplinary work and to excel in their scholarly and professional lives. In the light of our growth, high activity level, and strategic plan, we have made fundraising a more central goal.

We are thus asking you for help. We do not want to lose our momentum. In particular we need funds that can be used for academic development of graduate students now. For that purpose we are setting up an academic development fund that will be for immediate and future use to pay for graduate student travel to conferences and for research, provide research materials, and supplement fellowships and assistantships. The idea of the Current Use Graduate Student Fund is to create a pool of funds to support our students when other sources do not exist.

Please help us preserve our capacity to educate doctoral students. If you have made contributions to ICR in the past, thank you again. For those who have not, please contribute now to help ICR continue its tradition of excellence during this period of economic crisis.

To give to the ICR, please contact Bonnie Howard (bbhoward@uiuc.edu).