History of the Loyola University Chair in Environmental Communications
In 1995, Freeport-McMoRan, Inc., a New Orleans-based international mining company, donated $600,000 to Loyola
University New Orleans toward the development of an endowed chair in environmental communications.
The Louisiana
State Board of Regents contributed an additional $400,000 The endowed position was named the
“Loyola Chair in
Environmental Communications,” and assigned to the university’s Department of Communications.
The donor’s intent in endowing the chair was to provide an educational program in Louisiana (specifically at Loyola University New Orleans) in which communications students are taught to include research on all aspects of environmental issues. Garland Robinette, Freeport-McMoRan Vice President for Communications, said, “All too often, it appears that journalists base their articles on a narrow field of information. We simply want to be assured that the students have thoroughly researched the issue before reaching their conclusions.”
After a thorough national search, Dr. Robert A. Thomas, formerly Chief Executive Officer of the Society for Environmental Education (and founding director of the Louisiana Nature Center) and Vice President for Environmental Policy at the Audubon Nature Institute (both are New Orleans not-for-profit organizations), was named the first holder of the chair.
In 1998, Dr. Thomas began operations of the Loyola University Center for Environmental Communications.