Thomson Memorial Scholarship Reaches Endowment Level at UA

TUSCALOOSA — A fund drive in memory of Dr. Bailey Thomson, a University of Alabama journalism professor who died in November, has reached the level needed to endow a scholarship at the University, Dr. Culpepper Clark, dean of the UA College of Communication and Information Sciences, announced Friday.

“I am pleased to announce that family and friends of Bailey Thomson have made contributions exceeding the $20,000 minimum needed to endow the Bailey Thomson Memorial Endowed Scholarship,” Clark said. “Interest on the endowment will be used in perpetuity to support the education of a journalism major at the University who exemplifies the qualities of excellence in journalism and citizen involvement of Dr. Thomson, an award-winning journalist, award-winning journalism educator, and leader in Alabama’s constitutional and other reform efforts.”

Contributions are still being accepted. Checks should be made out to The University of Alabama for “Thomson Scholarship” and mailed to Bonnie LaBresh, director of development, College of Communication and Information Sciences, Box 870172, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487.

On Thursday, March 18, Thomson and Rick Bragg, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, were named co-winners of the 2004 Clarence Cason Nonfiction Writing Award, an award given annually by the University to recognize lifetime achievements in nonfiction writing.

Among the many writing and teaching awards won by Thomson are the 1999 Society of Professional Journalists Teaching Excellence Award and the 1999 American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize twice, finishing as a finalist once.

“We are most grateful to the many donors of this scholarship,” Clark said. “It helps to ensure that Dr. Thomson’s efforts to make Alabama do better by its people, and especially its children, will live on.”