J-School at University of Nevada Gets $3 Million Gift

By: The University of Nevada, Reno's journalism school has received a $3.17 million endowment to fund a faculty chair and a scholarship.

The bequest by Paul and Gwen Leonard was fulfilled by their daughter, the Rev. Jackie Leonard. During their lifetimes, the couple supported UNR and its journalism school.

The endowment will fund the Paul A. Leonard Chair for Ethics and Writing in Journalism, and the Paul A. and Gwen F. Leonard Memorial Scholarship.

"Good journalism schools cannot neglect teaching writing and ethics if they are to graduate good journalists," Jackie Leonard said.

Jannet Vreeland, UNR's vice provost and the school's interim dean, said the gift will help in recruiting a new journalism dean.

Cole Campbell, the former dean, was killed in a January traffic accident in Reno.

"It creates opportunities for the new leader to shape the curriculum, the faculty and the future of the journalism school," Vreeland said.

Paul Leonard, 1936 UNR journalism graduate, worked at the Elko Daily Free Press, Ely Daily Times and Reno Evening Gazette. He later became editor of the Nevada State Journal, where he remained until his retirement in 1972.

The newspapers merged, under the Spiedel Corp., as the Reno Gazette-Journal in 1977.

Gwen Leonard, a 1937 UNR graduate, was a patron of the arts who established several endowments at the university.