The University of Minnesota said Tuesday that its School of Journalism and Mass Communication will add Hubbard to its name this summer to honor the Twin Cities' "first family" of broadcast news.
The Hubbard family and its late patriarch, Stanley E. Hubbard, have donated about $25 million in total to the U. The university's largest single donation from the Hubbards was in 2000, when it received $10 million for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
The family founded, owns and still operates Hubbard Broadcasting, with its flagship KSTP-TV, Channel 5. It also is the parent company of KSTC-TV Channel 45 in the Twin Cities, WDIO-TV in Duluth, KAAL-TV in Rochester, Reelz Channel cable TV network, and television stations in New York and New Mexico. The Hubbard Radio Group includes KS95, myTalk 107.1, 1500 ESPN and stations in seven other markets across the country.
The school, part of the U's College of Liberal Arts (CLA), will become the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication starting July 1. It will be the first named school in the almost 150-year history of CLA, according to CLA Dean John Coleman.
U President Eric Kaler said the Hubbard family is "widely known for its pioneering breakthroughs in journalism, so it's fitting that our outstanding School of Journalism and Mass Communication should now carry this respected name in Twin Cities and American media."
The journalism school was established as a department in 1922. During the 2016-17 academic year, the school served 712 undergraduate majors and 76 graduate students and employed nearly 30 faculty members. Journalists and others from Hubbard Broadcasting frequently visit classes as guest speakers and students often tour, intern and work at Hubbard stations, the U said in a news release.
Stanley S. Hubbard, CEO of Hubbard Broadcasting, said the recognition "honors the memory" of his father "in a way which will make all who have been involved from 'day one' from KSTP-TV with local news production forever appreciative."
Pat Pheifer • 612-673-7252
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