CINCINNATI – The Scripps Howard Foundation has endowed $1 million to establish the William R. Burleigh and E. W. Scripps Professorship and the William R. Burleigh Media Ethics Program at Marquette University.The purpose of the endowment is to establish and strengthen the study and practice of ethics in the communications industry and to enrich the academic and technical preparation of communications students and faculty. The university will use the endowment to partially fund the salary of a designated faculty member who will be responsible for coordinating the curriculum and other activities of the William R. Burleigh Media Ethics Program. William R. Burleigh is chairman and the retired president and chief executive officer of The E. W. Scripps Company, which was founded by E. W. Scripps in 1878. Burleigh also is a 1957 Marquette alumnus, earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He was the university’s alumnus of the year in 1998. The Scripps Howard Foundation is the philanthropic arm of The E. W. Scripps Company.“This endowment furthers a cause to which Bill Burleigh devoted much of his career,” said Kenneth W. Lowe, president and CEO of Scripps. “The foundation, as does Mr. Burleigh, believes firmly in fostering ethical practices and high-minded values in the media today. Marquette provides an excellent academic setting to seriously address these important issues.”Through the Burleigh Media Ethics Program, communications industry professionals will be invited throughout the academic year to the Marquette campus in Milwaukee to speak on topics relevant to ethics in the media. Also, a distinguished professional will be selected annually as the Burleigh Lecturer to meet with students and faculty and deliver a keynote address at an annual luncheon. A symposium on media ethics will be held concurrent with the lecture each year. The program also will include workshops on how to apply best practices and ethical values to new media technologies.William R. Elliott, dean of Marquette’s College of Communication, said, “The William R. Burleigh and E. W. Scripps Professorship will allow the college to bring the people, ideas and vision together following Bill Burleigh’s example of professional and ethical behavior.” Elliott will be the university’s first William R. Burleigh and E. W. Scripps Professor.Dedicated to excellence in journalism, the Scripps Howard Foundation is a leader in industry efforts in journalism education, scholarships, literacy, minority recruitment/development and First Amendment causes.Marquette is a Catholic Jesuit university with an enrollment of about 11,000 graduate and undergraduate students and 100,000 alumni worldwide.