DreamWorks founder gives $1.2 million to COM, CGS
Gift will provide study space, editing facilities
Jeffrey Katzenberg, the founder and CEO of DreamWorks Studios SKG, and his wife, Marilyn, have announced that they will give $1.25 million to the College of Communication and the College of General Studies. The gift will be used to renovate and enhance study areas and facilities at the colleges.
“Their gift epitomizes the kind of thoughtfully targeted philanthropy so essential for Boston University to continue to provide students and faculty with the necessary tools and work space to succeed,” says University President Robert Brown. “We are extremely grateful.”
The gift to the College of General Studies will be used for a renovation of the third-floor study and meeting area. The design, modeled after the independent library and gallery the Boston Athenaeum, will incorporate computer terminals and individual and group study areas and will offer wireless Internet access. The area, to be renamed the Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Center, will give students “a place to read, write, and think in a space that is aesthetically conducive to study and reflection,” says Linda Wells, the dean of CGS.
At the College of Communication, the Katzenbergs’ gift will be used to create the Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg High Definition Center, which will fund the purchase of sound and lighting equipment, digital editing stations, and long-term leases of HD equipment. It will also go toward an upgrade of the journalism department’s photojournalism facilities, creating a professional studio and a digital photo lab. “We can return to the forefront of colleges whose equipment and facilities are on the industry’s cutting edge,” says John Schulz, the dean of COM. “The facilities upgrade will have an impact for many years to come.”
No construction dates have been set for the COM projects, but the study center at CGS is expected to be finished by fall 2006.