University Unveils Newhouse Family Plaza

Donald Newhouse smiled as he gestured toward the metallic letters, now permanently attached to a wall outside the Newhouse School, that recognize his family for the generosity that has helped Syracuse University educate generations of students.

The renaming of the plaza that serves as a formal entryway for the Newhouse complex and gathering space for students was a small act of gratitude during the school’s 60th anniversary celebration.

“I am fortunate to have the chance, in the same month that I celebrate my 95th birthday, to look back with overwhelming pride at the record of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. It is one of the great joys of my life,” Donald Newhouse said at the Aug. 28 event on the steps leading up to what is now known as the Newhouse Family Plaza.

The podium from which Newhouse spoke was situated not far from where his father, Samuel I. Newhouse, delivered his own remarks for the dedication ceremony of the Newhouse 1 building on Aug. 5, 1964. On that day, President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered the keynote address.

“For me personally, this was a day I would never forget, for besides [it] being my 35th birthday, my 4-year-old son was sitting on my lap, threatening to take the microphone away from the president,” Donald Newhouse recalled at the 60th anniversary celebration.

Six decades later, that 4-year-old son, Michael Newhouse, was among the crowd of hundreds gathered on the Einhorn Family Walk to celebrate another school milestone. His older brother, Steven Newhouse, sat nearby, as did other distinguished members of the Newhouse family. 

As the owner of Advance Publications, which was founded by S.I. Newhouse in 1922, Donald Newhouse is the patriarch of one of the first families of American publishing. The dedication of Newhouse 1 in 1964 set the foundation for the establishment of the Newhouse School as one of the preeminent communications schools in the country.

Today, the Newhouse family is one of the largest-ever donors to Syracuse University. The Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation’s $75 million pledge to the school in 2020 was the single largest gift in the University’s history. 

“There are so many amazing alumni of this school that I’ve met all over the world—editors, broadcasters, leaders in print, cable news and network newsrooms. They’ve founded and led radio stations, PR agencies, advertising firms, countless ventures in the business, digital music and entertainment industries,” Chancellor Kent Syverud said before unveiling the plaza’s new name.

“All of them amazing people, all made possible because of the transformational gifts of Donald Newhouse and the Newhouse Foundation,” Syverud added. “You’ve really, in a meaningful sense, shaped the trajectory of the University, the Newhouse School and, most importantly, the careers of tens of thousands of our students and our graduates and faculty.”

The 60th anniversary festivities included a celebratory luncheon and a special tour of the school for the Newhouse family. They walked through what has grown into a three-building complex on a busy midweek afternoon during the first week of class.

They surprised students with a stopover at a COM 107 class, toured the Newhouse Sports Media Center’s new home in the Newhouse 3 building and took in new photo galleries looking back at the school’s history that will adorn the walls of Newhouse in 2024-25.

The visit culminated with the ceremony and reception as students, faculty, staff, alumni and University leaders and trustees celebrated with the Newhouse family on the newly named plaza. 

In thanking the University, Steven Newhouse shared with the audience that he, too, was at the 1964 dedication ceremony, at age 7.

“I’m really excited by the naming of the Newhouse Family Plaza for two reasons. First of all, beyond S.I. Newhouse—my grandfather— and Donald Newhouse and his brother, Si Newhouse, it’s the entire Newhouse family who are proud of the amazing record of this school,” Steven Newhouse said. 

“And second, the Newhouse School is like a family itself. It looks after recent graduates as they make their way in the work world and as they advance their careers. So, on behalf of the extended family of the Newhouse School, thank you so much.”

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