$24.6-Million Gift Is Biggest Ever for USC
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In what was described as the largest single donation in the history of USC, the Annenberg Foundation has pledged $24.6 million to support communications programs at the campus, officials announced Tuesday night.
The gift came after speculation that the Philadelphia-based foundation, funded by publishing magnate Walter Annenberg, would stop annual gifts to the namesake Annenberg School for Communications, a USC graduate division that specializes in communications theory.
The new gift may be used in part for that school but will also support other programs, such as in the journalism school, officials said.
“I want to say how happy we are to receive this gift at this time, particularly this early in my tenure,” said USC President Steven B. Sample, who became campus head last year.
A former American ambassador to Great Britain, Annenberg and his foundation already have donated about $40 million to USC, including large sums to the communications school.
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