Annenbergs give $10 mil.

The longtime donors' latest gift helps students and academic programs. Penn administrators got an early Christmas gift recently from University Trustees Walter and Leonore Annenberg. University President Judith Rodin announced Friday that the Annenberg Foundation, based in St. Davids, Pa., pledged $10 million to Penn for undergraduate financial aid and a new chair in the Political Science Department. This is not the first time that Walter Annenberg, 90, has graced Penn with his largess. Annenberg donated $3 million and $5.7 million to establish the Annenberg School for Communication and the Annenberg Center for Communications Arts and Sciences, in 1958 and 1971, respectively. Then, in 1993, the 1931 Wharton School graduate gave the University $120 million -- then the largest gift in the history of higher education -- to permanently endow the Annenberg School and establish the Annenberg Public Policy Center, which is based in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Annenberg, who is worth $4.2 billion according to Forbes magazine, made his fortune with Triangle Publications, where he founded such periodicals as Seventeen and TV Guide. Annenberg also served as ambassador to Great Britain under Richard Nixon. The $10 million gift will be split evenly between two programs. The first $5 million grant -- which must be matched by the University -- will go toward the creation of the Annenberg Scholars Program for students with demonstrated financial need; the second will endow a chair in Political Science and create a new Institute for the Study of Democratic Institutions and Government in the Public Policy Center. Under the terms of the Annenberg Scholars grant, the University must raise $5 million in matching funds by July 1, 2002. The funds will be used to provide "strong, competitive financial aid packages" to "the very best student applicants" to Penn, beginning with the Class of 2003, Rodin said in a statement. The designated Annenberg Scholars will not get full scholarships, but rather will receive the maximum direct scholarship possible from the University, based on need. "Walter and Lee Annenberg have made, and continue to make, an enormous contribution to advance the teaching missions of this University," Rodin said. "It is no surprise that he and Lee understand how vital it is that we have the resources to continue to attract the nation's most able students to our undergraduate programs of study." The second $5 million will go toward the University's initiative in American and Comparative Democratic and Legal Institutions, one of the six academic priorities of Rodin's 1995 Agenda for Excellence. The recipient of the endowed chair will hold a primary appointment in the Political Science Department and a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School as a member of the Public Policy Center. The scholar will also head the new Institute in the Public Policy Center. Though the Agenda initiative has failed to bring any senior professors to Penn's beleaguered Political Science Department -- which this year has seen two faculty members leave and five more announce plans to retire -- Interim Provost Michael Wachter said that the program has begun to turn the corner. "This initiative is coming together," he said. "Faculty appointments take a long time? but I think we're going to show some progress." Gail Levin, executive director of the Annenberg Foundation, emphasized the bond between the Annenbergs and the University. "The Foundation and the University have had a long and very productive relationship," she said in a statement, adding that the Foundation aims to provide "quality educational opportunities" for socio-economically disadvantaged students. Since 1958, the Foundation's other gifts include $120 million to the University of Southern California, $100 million to New Jersey's Peddie School, $50 million to the United Negro College Fund and $25 million to Harvard University.