Investiture at Rowan to celebrate endowed RTF chair

Rowan University will hold its first-ever formal Investiture ceremony to celebrate the University's endowed chair in the College of Communication on Thursday, Sept. 25, at 4 p.m. in the Eynon Ballroom of the Chamberlain Student Center.

The ceremony will formally recognize Michael Donovan as the Charles & Lucille King Family Foundation Chair in Radio/Television/Film (RTF). Diana King, trustee, president and chair of The Charles & Lucille King Family Foundation, will join with the Rowan community to mark the celebration of the chair, which was established through a $1 million endowment in 2002.

All members of the Rowan community--faculty, students and staff--are invited to attend the Investiture ceremony.

"Gifts like the endowed chair from the King Family Foundation help us hire top faculty, support research activities, promote faculty development and, most importantly, provide unique learning opportunities for our students," said Rowan President Donald Farish.

"The Investiture not only celebrates the King family's legacy as pioneers in the television industry. It also gives us the opportunity to recognize the profound impact their gift has had on Rowan students."

King World Productions, founded by Charles King in the 1930s, grew, through the stewardship of the King family, into the world's leading syndicator of first-run television programming. The company's success with programming such as "Wheel of Fortune," "Jeopardy!" and "The Oprah Winfrey Show" catapulted King World to leadership in the industry.

One of six children of Charles and Lucille King, Diana King established the New Jersey-based Charles & Lucille King Family Foundation to support individuals, institutions and organizations committed to educational excellence and professional development.

Donovan, a nationally recognized teacher and scholar who joined Rowan in 1972, was one of the founding members of the RTF department, where he teaches courses in the business, regulation, economics and history of the electronic media industry. For 20 years, Donovan served as a marketing consultant and educational coordinator for the National Association of Television Program Executives, the largest television programming professional trade association in the world.

In 2006, he received the Distinguished Education Service Award from the Broadcast Education Association.

Donovan serves as educational director of the Charles & Lucille King Family Foundation, coordinating and screening applications for the foundation's undergraduate scholarship program.

In addition to supporting research activities, promoting faculty development and providing technologies that have enhanced educational experiences for RTF students, funds from the King Family Foundation Endowed Chair also have gone toward the establishment of a visiting professorship in RTF for David Bianculli, a nationally prominent television critic.

Bianculli, former TV critic for the New York Daily News, is a longtime contributor to National Public Radio's "Fresh Air" program.

Diana King, who received an honorary degree from Rowan in 2002, established The Charles & Lucille King Foundation in 1988.