NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute announced last week the creation of the Marjorie Deane Professorship in Financial Journalism in honor of a $400,000 gift from the London-based Marjorie Deane Financial Journalism Foundation. This gift will help fund student programs and fellowships.
Stephen Solomon, founder and director of the NYU master’s program in business and economic reporting, is the first to hold the professorship, which began last week.
“The Marjorie Deane Foundation has recognized the BER program as one of the best of its kind in the world,” Solomon said. “We are honored to be able to work with the foundation to assist young journalists in becoming excellent financial writers. The foundation’s gift makes it possible to enhance the education and experience of the students we could not pursue before now.”
The Marjorie Deane Financial Journalism Foundation, named after a reporter for The Economist, aims to advance public education in financial theory and journalism. Martin Giles, an Economist correspondent and the foundation trustee who was most involved in awarding the gift to NYU, said part of the foundation’s mission is to support schools teaching financial journalism.
“The Business and Economic Reporting program is very much aligned with the goals of the foundation,” Giles said. “And we liked the idea that some of the foundation’s money would be available to support students studying on the program.”
The student programs funded by the gift include an annual Marjorie Deane lecture and, next fall, the creation of Marjorie Deane fellows, who are business journalism students who will receive financial assistance for tuition.
In the spring 2014 semester, the institute also plans to launch a student exchange program, in which BER students can spend a week studying the financial systems of the United Kingdom and the European Union at the City University of London.
“The world is so interconnected today that it’s critically important for business journalists to understand the economic and financial systems in different parts of the world,” Solomon said.
NYU social sciences dean Michael Laver said he was gratified the foundation chose to invest in the BER program.
“It is especially good that the bulk of the resulting resources will be targeted very directly at students and that the foundation is keen to do this,” Laver said. “Sometimes, students benefit only indirectly from such awards.”
Srividya Iyer, a student in the BER program, said she thought recognition for the program was long overdue.
“No other university in the United States has a program so comprehensive,” Iyer said. “They’ve worked hard to make it relevant, and we’re excited to go to London.”
A version of this article appeared in the Wednesday, Oct. 23 print edition. Ann Schmidt is a staff writer. Email her at [email protected].