Ball State University alumnus David Letterman will visit campus this fall when the Communication and Media Building celebrates its grand opening. The Board of Trustees announced this afternoon the building will be named after Letterman.
President Jo Ann Gora referred to the building as the Letterman Communication and Media Building, but the official name has not yet been decided.
Letterman's mother, Dorothy Mengering was present at the meeting. Mengering said her son had been reluctant to accept the honor.
"I am so thrilled that David finally let you do this for him," Mengering said.
The naming was prompted by Letterman's significant contributions to the university. Letterman has supported three annual scholarships for telecommunication students since 1985, among other contributions.
"He has accepted the fact that this is really something we are doing for our students and he is an inspiration to our students," Gora said.
Gora was a major force behind the naming process, which has been in the works for more than a year.
"I was really so pleased to be able to sit down and spend an hour and half talking to Dave last September about all the changes at the university and the excitement at the university about the new communication building and our desire to honor him because of his continued generosity and because of the fact that he is a role model to our students," she said.
Letterman and his mother will visit Ball State at the official dedication at 4 p.m. Sept. 7.
The day will consist of tours of the new building as well as panel discussions and workshops.
Jeffrey Smulyan, chairman of the board of Emmis Communications Coropration, will be the keynote speaker at the dedication. Other speakers include Congressman Mike Pence; Andy Alexander, Cox Newspaper Washington bureau chief ; Jane Clark, Time Warner Global Marketing's vice president of insight and innovation; Dennis Ryerson, vice president and editor for The Indianapolis Star; and Michael Smith, executive director of Northwestern University's Media Management Center.
The board presented Mengering with a picture frame with a slideshow of digital pictures of the new building, campus and Letterman during his time at Ball State.
"Ball State is very special to him," said Mengering. "To help the young people there, to give back to the college what they gave to him is very important to him. He loves Ball State."
Letterman graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in telecommunications in 1970.
After graduating he worked as an anchor and weatherman for the NBC Indianapolis affiliate. In 1975 he moved to California where he worked as a writer on several sitcoms including Good Times. He also did stand-up at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles.
Following many guest appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson Letterman became a permanent guest host. His own show, Late Night with David Letterman premiered on NBC on Feb. 1, 1982. Eleven years later he moved to CBS.
He has earned 97 Emmy nominations and won 16. In 1992 he was recognized with the George Foster Peabody Award.
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