The Tow Foundation supports the enhancement of the educational experience by exposing students, faculty and administrations of institutions of higher learning to opportunities for study and work that will inspire them to explore their own potential to make meaningful change both in their own lives and for the betterment of society. We also believe that a free and responsible press is the cornerstone for a democratic society and are investing in training the next generation of journalists to bring ethical and balanced reporting into New Media.

Barnard College
New York, NY

Tow Public Service Internships

To support stipends for approximately 30 undergraduate students annually to earn valuable experience serving as interns with substantive nonprofit and public service organizations. Past students have interned at a wide range of health, education, arts, human rights, research, advocacy, environmental, media, philanthropic, housing and economic aid organizations. Many choose to pursue graduate degrees and future careers in public service.

Tow Travel Study Fellowships

To support travel study awards to approximately 10 undergraduate students annually for domestic or foreign travel to conduct first-hand research on the topic of their senior theses. Past students have traveled all over the world to conduct intensive research in such areas as anthropology, architecture, environmental science, history, musicology and religion. In addition to enriching their senior theses with this information, several students have made significant and original contributions to their academic disciplines and had their research published.

The Tow Family Award for Innovative and Outstanding Pedagogy

To recognize an exemplary member of the Barnard faculty who combines scholarship and pedagogy in creative ways, maximizing the impact of both.  The award is given in the form of a flexible research/professional development fund that can be spent over 5 years to further innovative pedagogies.  Awardees may use the funds for travel, to attend professional conferences, to secure a course release to learn a new skill or technology, or other related purpose.  Special consideration is given to innovative use of teaching technologies, including new media, to extend both the classroom environment and research findings across a broader community of scholars and students.

Tow Family Professorships for Distinguished Scholars and Practitioners

To recognize faculty members at the Associate Professor level who have made substantial, nationally recognized contributions to their field. This honor includes a two-year monetary award to be used as a stipend and for research and professional development which can include related expenses for travel and attendance at professional conferences. Two new recipients are selected each year.

Brooklyn College of the City University of New York
Brooklyn, NY

Claire Tow Distinguished Teacher Award

To annually support an award of $10,000 to a senior member of the faculty in recognition of outstanding qualities as a teacher and a role model to students and other faculty. The nominees must demonstrate, to the satisfaction of students and peers, exceptional skills in teaching and teaching methods and a dedication to helping students achieve the highest academic standards. The recipients are selected by the President, in consultation with the Provost. Since its inception, the award has recognized superlative faculty from the departments of English, Theater and Education.

Leonard and Claire Tow Professorships

To provide two-year professorships to members of the faculty whose talents and accomplishments are of a particularly high order—for example, distinguished teachers, nationally and internationally renowned scholars, and artists with national reputations. The professorships enable the college to retain distinguished faculty who might otherwise be lured away. Nominations are made by department chairpersons and top candidates are chosen by a presidential advisory committee. Recipients are then chosen by the President, in consultation with the Provost and the Board of the Brooklyn College Foundation. Recent Tow professors are from the fields of chemistry, biology, classics, history, anthropology, Africana studies and English.

Leonard and Claire Tow Faculty Travel Fellowships

To annually provide funding for travel and related expenses to two full-time faculty members for research or study purposes either in the U.S. or abroad. A committee chaired by the Provost selects recipients.

Leonard and Claire Tow Undergraduate Travel Study Awards

To annually support travel study awards for up to 10 students to study or do research abroad to expand their knowledge and awareness of the wider world. Recipients are selected by a committee appointed by the Dean of Undergraduate Students. Upon their return, many students make presentations on their research.

City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism
New York, NY

Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism

To establish the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism, where students will study new business models for journalism and create an incubator to help develop new journalistic products and services using Internet technologies. The Tow-Knight Center will build on courses already offered at the school that encourage students to create new journalistic products and services and develop business plans for them. The ideas are reviewed by a panel of venture capitalists and media professionals, and the best ideas are awarded seed capital. The new incubator will help bring these and other ideas to fruition, in cooperation with interested media companies. In addition, the Tow-Knight Center will do research on new business models for journalism at a time of declining advertising and circulation revenues.

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
New York, NY

Tow Center for Digital Journalism

The Tow Center’s primary mission will be to educate the next generation of journalists with the skills and knowledge to lead the future of professional journalism on the Internet and other forms of Digital Journalism. The Tow Center will focus on the interactions between journalists and readers, as citizens provide more reporting and commentary and readers seek ways to better understand the reliability, standards and credibility in Digital Journalism. The Tow Center also will explore and innovate with new methods of digital reporting and presentation, providing ways to create journalism and inspire dialogue that will serve established media companies, as well as newly created outlets.

The Tow-Knight Projects in News Innovation

To establish a research program at The Tow Center for Digital Journalism that will commission wide-ranging research projects and enable the Center to develop expertise in the relationship of data to digital  journalism.   The Tow-Knight Projects will serve as an influential convening power, helping to inform the profession by bringing disparate fields of expertise and knowledge together in a rigorous research and publishing program that is responsive to the needs of the industry and policy makers.