Frank Karel Chair in Public Interest Communications Fund

This fund was established in 2007 in honor of University of Florida alumnus, Frank Karel, by the Trellis Fund, Inc., a family fund chaired by his wife, Betsy. The fund supports the nation’s first chair in the College of Journalism and Communications, whose focus is to prepare students for careers in the nonprofit and public sectors using communications to advance public interest issues and objectives. Frank earned a bachelor’s degree from UF’s College of Journalism and Communications in 1961 and was named an alumnus of distinction in 1990. A pioneer in the field of public interest communications, Frank worked with organizations such as the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, the National Cancer Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson and Rockefeller Foundations.