McDowell Scholarship Fund
As the Al McDowell Memorial Fund nears the $11,000 mark, the members of Pittsburgh media who serve on the steering committee are looking forward to hosting the first Al McDowell Pittsburgh Media Forum at the University this fall.
The annual forum is expected to become a major professional and social event at which past and present Pittsburgh media professionals will come together for a thoughtful presentation and discussion of issues and trends in their profession with students, faculty, and the general public.
The endowment fund was established in 1995 to honor the memory of Pittsburgh broadcasting pioneer Al McDowell, a 1952 CAS graduate.
McDowell, who put himself through Pitt as a Steelworker at U.S. Steel's Clairton Works in his hometown, was an accomplished news journalist and a familiar figure on Pittsburgh radio and television at KDKA and WTAE for more than 30 years. He died in November 1994. The idea for the fund originated with Aviva Radbord, a 1972 CAS alumna and a KDKA-TV producer who had worked with him for many years. Radbord who is also a member of the Arts and Sciences Alumni Advisory Board, recruited the steering committee and has been a driving force behind the successful year-long campaign for the fund among veteran and current members of the Pittsburgh media.
Income from the fund will be used to award a partial scholarship for an undergraduate student in the Nonfiction Writing Program of the Department of English and to underwrite an annual forum at which Pittsburgh media professionals will discuss their work with students aspiring to careers in this field. The first McDowell scholarship was awarded at the forum held on October 25, 1996. (See separate article on event.)