In brief

Ken Lowe, a 1972 Carolina alumnus and founder of Home and Garden Television (HGTV), is helping the Department of Communication Studies with some home improvements of its own.

Lowe, now president and CEO of the E.W. Scripps Co. in Cincinnati, has pledged $300,000 to the department, creating the Kenneth W. Lowe Fund for Faculty Excellence. The gift counts toward the department’s $3 million fund-raising campaign and will provide funding for crucial faculty resources, such as summer stipends, research support and graduate assistance.

“The possibilities are simply wonderful,” said Bill Balthrop, chair of communication studies, who noted that over the last six years eight of the department’s permanent faculty members were recruited by other universities, with three accepting those offers. “The department will benefit because we will now be in a much stronger position to recruit the best new faculty in the country and to keep them after they’re hired. Faculty will benefit, as they will now have desperately needed resources to help them with their research, creative projects and teaching. And, most important, our students will benefit from having the leading scholars and artists bring their work into the classroom.”

Lowe is a longtime supporter of communication studies. He has served on the department’s advisory board, supported student internships in Hollywood, helped with urgent funding needs and backed several efforts to increase opportunities for students interested in the media and entertainment industry.

About his most recent gift, Lowe said, “There is no more important focus at the University of North Carolina than recruiting and retaining gifted educators. Carolina is known for having outstanding faculty who excel in both teaching and research. That’s what makes UNC a leading public university."

Geoffrey Brennan is coming from Down Under to the top of the Hill, and he’ll spend some time in Durham as well. Brennan, an economist from Australia, has been named the first Nannerl O. Keohane Distinguished Visiting Professor at Carolina and Duke University. A professor in the Social and Political Theory group in the Research School of Social Science at Australian National University in Canberra, Brennan is well known for his work in public choice theory, welfare economics, public finance and political philosophy. He will spend the spring 2005 semester splitting his time between Carolina and Duke, teaching two classes and working with faculty on both campuses to develop a cross-campus undergraduate Program in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

The Keohane professorship was created last spring as a way to honor the former Duke president’s contributions toward advancing collaboration between Carolina and Duke.

Half of the $3 million needed to create the professorship was pledged as a challenge by Carolina graduate Julian Robertson and his wife, Josie, of New York, who also funded the Robertson Scholars Program. The William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust provided the remaining $1.5 million.