I am deeply grateful to the Walton Family Foundation for its recent $1.4 million, three-year grant to MU’s School of Journalism to create the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk.

Led by professor Sara Shipley Hiles, and supported by professors Earnest Perry and Ryan Famuliner, this project will establish a network of journalists from across the region to enhance coverage of the environmental issues facing this critical water system. It represents a working partnership between our J-School, Report for America and the Society of Environmental Journalists. It also plays an important role in the School’s Center for Science Communication.

As the needs of our environment and food systems shift, MU students and researchers are hard at work developing forward-thinking solutions. That’s the first step. The next critical step is communicating the impact of that vital work to communities across Missouri and the Midwest. The Center for Science Communication and its new Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk represent the nexus for this imperative.

Thank you again to the Walton Family Foundation, our School of Journalism, our faculty leaders and our students. Recognizing a need and then building the academic and scholarly infrastructure to address that need remain the backbone of Mizzou’s public, land-grant, research mission.

— Mun