John Cowles, Sr., and Elizabeth Bates Cowles
In 1976, the Cowles endowed $2 million to the School to be used for a Cowles Chair, the Minnesota Journalism Center, and a mid-career fellowship program for journalists interested in media management. Cowles, the retired chairman of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune Company, said at the time of the gift that he hoped it would “strengthen the University’s role in journalism and journalism education… and elevate the standards of journalism in Minnesota and the nation.” Cowles bought the Minneapolis Star in 1935 and turned it into the largest of the three Minneapolis evening newspapers within a half decade. Elizabeth Cowles was the founder of the Maternal Health League, which became Planned Parenthood in Iowa in the 1930s and was a life member of the NAACP. At the time, the Cowles gift was one of the largest single gifts to be presented to the University of Minnesota.