Arizona State University has announced two grants totaling $8.21 million from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to enhance its programs in business journalism education and professional development.

A $6.21 million grant will provide continued support for the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism, which was established in 2003 and has been run by ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2006. In addition, the foundation awarded a $2 million grant to the school to create a permanent endowment for the Donald W. Reynolds Visiting Professorship in Business Journalism, which was launched in 2010. In January 2011, the foundation awarded a five-year grant to the Cronkite School to establish and administer a visiting professor program in business journalism that ultimately will create a network of visiting professorships at eleven schools.

To date, the Reynolds Center has provided more than fifteen thousand working journalists, journalism educators, and university students across the country with workshops, seminars, and a variety of webinars and Web-based tutorials.

"Since the start of the Great Recession, the health and direction of the economy have been paramount in the news," said ASU president Michael M. Crow. "The issues and proposals concerning economic growth, job creation, taxation and oversight of credit markets are interconnected and often difficult to grasp. These generous grants from the Reynolds Foundation will enable the Cronkite School to further evolve the study and practice of reporting and analyzing these important and very difficult topics."