The University of Missouri announced a $1 million gift from Stueve Siegel Hanson. The Kansas City-based firm will establish the Stueve Siegel Hanson Law Scholarship to support Black students at the MU School of Law, and the Stueve Siegel Hanson Fund for Press Freedom to support Alfred Friendly Press Partners at the Missouri School of Journalism.
“This gift will help advance our goal and will help many underrepresented minority students pursue their dreams of becoming lawyers and making a difference in our world.” said Lyrissa Lidsky, dean of the MU School of Law and Judge C.A.
Lyrissa Lidsky, dean of the MU School of Law and Judge C.A. Leedy Professor of Law, said the gift will help further enhance the school’s inclusion efforts.
“Increasing the diversity of the legal field is one of the most important goals of Mizzou Law and is vital to ensuring an equitable and just society,” she said. “This gift will help advance our goal and will help many underrepresented minority students pursue their dreams of becoming lawyers and making a difference in our world.”
Part of the gift will support the Alfred Friendly Press Partners, which provides opportunities for journalists from countries with underdeveloped media to receive hands-on training in U.S. newsrooms — including MU’s Columbia Missourian and KOMU-TV. By establishing the Stueve Siegel Hanson Fund for Press Freedom, the firm will support a journalist working to improve the legal system or race relations in that individual’s home country.
Patrick Stueve, co-founder of Stueve Siegel Hanson and treasurer of the Alfred and Jean Friendly Foundation Board, said the two gifts complement the firm’s commitment to the pursuit of justice. “We want to be an agent of positive change in the legal system,” Stueve said. “It is critical that we support diverse legal minds to serve as our next generation of attorneys, advocates, judges and legislators, and it is critical that we support journalists who can bring transparency and accountability to governments around the world.”
