Hall partners with Butler University
From left, Lawrence Taylor, IJHF executive director; Stephanie Salter, IJHF board president; Joe Valenzano, Butler University College of Communications dean; and Steve Key, IJHF board member, announced the partnership between IJHF and Butler University Sept. 12. (Courtesy photo, Butler University CCOM)
The Butler University College of Communication will serve as the new home of the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame and its day-to-day operations and archives, the organizations announced Sept. 21.
The IJHF will lease space in the Fairbanks Center for Communications on Butler's Indianapolis campus, allowing the hall to continue its mission to honor women and men whose lives and careers make them standouts among Hoosier journalists.
Butler CCOM Dean Joe Valenzano said the new partnership will provide "a valuable source of journalistic history to benefit Butler's students and faculty," as well as will offer important access to many of the hall's previous inductees and archives.
IJHF President Stephanie Salter agreed with Valenzano that the move presents a "win-win" for both entities.
"Butler's central location in the state and strong communications programs make it a perfect fit for us," Salter said. “Since our founding in the mid-1960s, the IJHF has inducted more than 250 outstanding Hoosier journalists, many of them Bulldog alumni."
The IJHF board was particularly impressed by the university's enthusiasm for the hall, Salter said.
"Dean Valenzano and Butler Provost Brooke Barnett have made it clear they understand the value of adding the IJHF to the university's already rich and prestigious array of partners,” she said. “Indiana's Hall of Fame journalists couldn't have found a better home."
The IJHF was founded in 1966 at DePauw University by the Indiana Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. In 2010, at the request of Indiana University, the organization moved to IU's Bloomington campus and remained there until June.
The IJHF annually inducts active, working journalists as well as those with past careers. As the organization's mission statement reads, inductees are "individuals who have demonstrated over a number of years that they are journalists of the highest distinction; that their dedication and contribution to journalism have in turn contributed to the regard others have for journalism," and that "their contributions to journalism have had a significant impact on the political, social, economic or cultural life of their communities.”
Lawrence P. Taylor, IJHF’s executive director, will continue to oversee operations for the hall, working in tandem with Butler staff and students from his new office in the Fairbanks Center. Taylor has served as executive director since 2007.
Lee Farquhar, director of Butler’s School of Journalism and Creative Media, said the partnership will offer opportunities for students.
“We stress experiential learning in every area of CCOM, so this is yet another great resource for our students, especially our aspiring journalists and media creators,” he said.
Farquhar, Valenzano and CCOM staff said they look forward to guest lectures on campus from IJHF board members and inductees, and to participation in events connected to the hall's annual induction ceremonies, the next of which is scheduled for April 27.
The deadline to nominate journalists for the next induction is Oct. 31. Find more information on the website.