After graduating from UNC in 1952, Reese Felts spent much of his career with WSJS television (now WXII) in Winston-Salem.

The Reese Felts Digital News Project, a major experimental student news and audience research initiative at UNC’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication, is funded by a $4.1 million gift from the estate of alumnus Reese Felts.

It is the largest single gift ever by an individual to Carolina’s journalism school, and also funds a distinguished professorship in the school. Jean Folkerts, dean of the school, announced the gift and project Oct. 1, 2009.

Felts, a 1952 UNC graduate who worked for nearly 30 years as a radio and television broadcaster in Winston-Salem before retiring in 1980, died in 2009. He spent most of his career with WSJS, which is now WXII. “The journalism school instilled Reese with an almost-religious awe of the role of journalism in our society and the profound importance of a free and responsible press,” said Cowles Liipfert, Felts’ attorney and friend.

“Carolina’s journalism school has always been innovative,” Chancellor Holden Thorp said. “It is fitting that a gift from an older generation of journalists will help our students shape the future of news dissemination.”

The school has transformed one of its classrooms into the 24-hour Reese Felts Digital Newsroom where students will work with the latest technology and methods to produce and distribute news for audiences across a variety of platforms. The newsroom and its digital publications also will function as a research center to study audience engagement and communities that form around news and information. The flexibility to experiment and test theories is central to the project, which will launch its first student-produced digital news site on Nov. 1.

Nineteen students form the newsroom’s inaugural full-time staff will be producing text, audio, video and interactive graphics as the foundation for experimental news gathering and dissemination. Dozens of student volunteers and free-lancers have also signed on to participate in the project.

“Every journalism school in the country is talking about creating multimedia projects and converging technologies,” Folkerts said. “But none, to my knowledge, have created an environment that challenges current models and tests the results.”

“We’ll develop ideas, take risks and test how audiences respond,” she said. “We won’t be afraid to make some mistakes along the way. That’s how we learn what works and what doesn’t and how we can help preserve quality journalism in the new media environment. This project will focus on news and its importance within a democratic society.”

The newsroom creates a hub equipped for students in every specialization taught in the school – reporting, editing and design, broadcasting, photojournalism, multimedia, advertising and public relations.

UNC students have benefitted from Felts’ spirit of giving for years. In 1996, Felts endowed an annual $3,000 scholarship for electronic communication students in the school. In 1997, he named three editing suites in Carroll Hall.

“Reese’s kindness and generosity were well-known by many,” Folkerts said. “His gift enables us to do something unique and meaningful for our students.”

Carolina is part of an initiative funded by the Carnegie Corp. and the Knight Foundation that seeks to help journalism education adapt to the challenges of a struggling news industry. It encourages experimental journalism projects, curriculum enhancement and collaboration with other academic disciplines.

The UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication celebrated 100 years of journalism education at Carolina with the 2009-10 school year. Edward Kidder Graham taught UNC’s first journalism course in 1909. The school has grown into a national leader in research and teaching and is helping media adapt during a time of change for the industry. In 2009, the school launched a new curriculum, converting its television studio to high definition, expanding its global reach and forging new research partnerships to ensure that quality journalism thrives in the digital age.