Columbia College has created the annual Studs Terkel Scholarships, totaling $750,000, to benefit Chicago Public School students who seek to pursue careers in civic-minded communications. “Studs Terkel was the living embodiment of all that is best about Chicago,” said President Warrick L. Carter in announcing the scholarship program.

“I have received a lot of honors in my many years on this planet. This is the best,” said Terkel two weeks before his death in October 2008. “There are so many stories that still need to be told, so many truths that need to be aired, so many wrongs that need to be righted. I say to these kids: Be curious, be strong. Take the dough and use it well.”

Columbia will designate 125 Studs Terkel Scholarships and subsequently will seek to increase the number of awards through development of a Studs Terkel Scholarship Board. The scholarships are in addition to the prestigious annual Studs Terkel Scholarship of $1,500, given each spring to a single promising communications student by the Community Media Workshop.