The Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California has announced a $6 million gift from the Annenberg Foundation in Radnor, Pennsylvania.

A portion of the grant will be used to establish the Annenberg Family Chair in Communications Leadership. Geoffrey Cowan, dean of the Annenberg School, has been named the inaugural holder of the position. In addition to endowing the chair, the grant also will providing funding to support a variety of research projects and programmatic activities under Cowan's direction.

Cowan has announced his retirement as dean at the conclusion of the spring term in 2007. At that time, he will take a year-long sabbatical to conduct several projects and serve as a fellow at the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics & Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

"Over the years, the Annenberg Foundation and its trustees have been...not only keenly attuned to the needs of [USC] students, but visionary about the ways scholarly investigation can address challenges facing our society," said university president Steven B. Sample. "The foundation's gift is a timely catalyst that will further invigorate USC's unparalleled strengths in communication and that will duly honor the exceptional talents of Dean Geoffrey Cowan."