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The Cheers, For Now Endowment confers research grants to selected UT Austin graduate students in the School of Journalism and Media. The grants are awarded to students conducting independent research and also honor the memory of Dr. Dominic “Nick” Lasorsa, who signed off his emails with “Cheers, for now!” Dr. Lasorsa was a member of the Journalism School faculty at the University of Texas at Austin for 30 years. He retired in 2016.

Dr. Lasorsa unexpectedly passed away in 2020 and his husband, Richard Scroggins, established this permanent endowment as an enduring testament to Dr. Lasorsa’s passion for nurturing developing scholars. As an avid scholar himself, Dr. Lasorsa published numerous papers in top journals that contributed to theory and provided insight into emerging developments that were important to journalism and gave us a better understanding of social problems. He co-authored the seminal textbook, “How to Build Social Science Theories,” and created and taught a graduate level theory-building class, providing students with the most vital tools needed to produce important and impactful research.

Prior to the establishment of Cheers, For Now, school funding was available only to Journalism and Media students who were completing dissertations, but not for research projects that came before the dissertation or by master’s R&T students. Dr. Lasorsa understood the importance and immense value fostered by student research. Awards provided by the Cheers, For Now Endowment address that gap. Throughout his tenure at UT Austin, Dr. Lasorsa was beloved by graduate students he taught and mentored, and the Cheers, For Now awards will undoubtedly extend his legacy by making it possible for students to conduct meaningful, original research prior to the dissertation or as a master’s R&T student. As such, previous publications and conference papers are not a requirement of the application as this award is focused on funding student work early in their careers.

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