Fundraising Campaign Launched for Chair in Gloria Steinem’s Name

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Photography: 

Tom Marks

The Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture, and Feminist Studies will honor Steinem’s legacy as a women’s rights activist and journalist and her work in media by focusing on ways to diversify voices in media and information technology.

The creation of this chair is a collaboration among Rutgers’ Institute for Women’s Leadership, School of Communication and Information, and Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at the School of Arts and Sciences.

To date, the $3 million campaign to establish the chair has received pledges totaling more than $1 million from a range of donors, including the Ford, Knight, and Charles H. Revson foundations; Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook; and Mortimer Zuckerman, owner and publisher of the New York Daily News and U.S. News & World Report.

“Gloria Steinem is one of the leading feminists and human rights advocates of our generation, and we are extremely proud to begin a fundraising campaign to fund the Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair,” said President Robert Barchi. “A chair cannot be endowed until funds are raised, and we are looking forward to adding to the roster of foundations and individuals who have already lent their support to this effort.”

Organizers hope to fill the chair by the 2016–2017 academic year, and an advisory committee has been assembled for the initiative. Some prominent individuals on the committee include Sheila Johnson, cofounder of Black Entertainment Television (BET); Geraldine Laybourne, who led the creation of the Nickelodeon brand and founded Oxygen Media; Subha Barry, principal, SV Barry Consulting Group; and Natalie Morales RC’94, the co-anchor of NBC’s Today show.

In a letter to Rutgers, Steinem expressed both delight and surprise at being chosen for the accolade. She praised Rutgers for its “long and distinguished history of women’s education and groundbreaking research.”