Foster-Foreman Conference of Distinguished Writers

About Larry and Ellen Foster

Larry Foster, a 1948 graduate of Penn State, and his wife, Ellen Miller Foster, a 1949 graduate, gave $500,000 in 1997 to endow the Foster Professorship in Communications to support new strategies for improving students' writing skills. The program was designed to support new strategies for improving students’ writing skills and enables the University to host the annual Foster Conference of Distinguished Writers.

In April 2010, the Fosters created a Trustee Matching Scholarship and provided support for equipment in the new multimedia laboratory and newsroom housed in the College of Communications. The Fosters previously have provided funds to endow the Larry and Ellen Foster Professorship in Writing and Editing; they have contributed to enhance Carnegie Building’s lobby, main conference room and student services area; they have created the Lawrence G. and Ellen M. Foster Scholarship Endowment; and they have provided a lead gift to establish the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communications, which is housed in the College of Communications.