Gannett CEO Named College of Communications' Campaign Chair

5-8-97
University Park, Pa. - John Curley, chairman, president, and CEO of Gannett Co., has been named chair of the Penn State College of Communications' Capital Campaign Committee. As chair, he will serve as the chief volunteer spokesperson for the goals, theme, and objectives of the College's campaign, and enlist other top volunteers to serve on the committee. He will also provide guidance and leadership to the dean, development staff, and alumni and friends of the College.

The College's campaign will be a component of the University's overall capital fundraising effort, the goal and timeline for which will be announced at a later date.

Curley has been actively involved with the College of Communications since 1989, when Past President Bryce Jordan appointed him to the College's Board of Visitors, which does an annual review of the College's teaching, research, and service to its students and the media professions. In addition to serving as that Board's chair for the past four years, he has supported the College through his financial generosity, as an active participant in the College's activities, and as a featured speaker on panels and in lectures.

"We are thrilled to have his vision, leadership, and incredibly generous commitment to our students as the beacon leading the way in a campaign that will shape communications education into the 21st century," said Terri Brooks, dean of the College of Communications.

Since he first joined Gannett in 1969, Curley has served as an editor of the Rochester, New York, Times-Union; as the editor and later as publisher of The Courier News in Bridgewater, New Jersey; as publisher of the News-Journal newspapers in Wilmington, Delaware; and, for six years, as head of the Gannett News Service, during which time GNS won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

The first editor of USA TODAY, which was launched in September of 1982, Curley has been a member of Gannett's Board of Directors since 1983. He worked his way up through the company to become president of its newspaper division in 1983, president and chief operating officer in 1984, CEO in 1986, and chairman in 1989.

In May of 1996, Curley was elected chairman of the Newspaper Association of America, a non-profit organization representing a $46 billion newspaper industry and more than 1,500 newspapers in the United States and Canada.

Despite his strong commitment to the College of Communications and the University, as well as his historic devotion to Penn State athletics, Curley is not a Penn State alumnus. He received his bachelor's degree in political science in 1960 from Dickinson College, where he serves on the college's board of trustees, and a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University in 1963.

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CONTACT: Angie Bolton (814) 865-8801 aab7@psu.edu