Leland M. Hawes, Jr. established this endowment in 2005 to help junior, senior and graduate students who do for-credit internships. Leland was born in Tampa in 1929 and graduated from Plant High School. When he was 11, Leland started a weekly newspaper called The Flint Driver in his hometown of Thonotosassa. After graduating, he attended the University of Florida and worked as the campus correspondent for the Tampa Daily Times. Leland moved back to Tampa to work for the Times full time after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1950. Leland began working at the Tampa Tribune, which at that time was the Tampa Morning Tribune, two years later in 1952. He served as Sunday feature editor, associate editor, editorial page editor, features editor and night editor before his retirement in 2005.

Known by his co-workers as a true southern gentleman, Leland earned respect and admiration in the 50 years he worked at the paper. He was also an award-winning reporter, earning recognition from the Associated Press. After his retirement, he received an honorary doctoral degree for his contributions to Tampa’s histor