The Josef Korbel School of International Studies received a one million dollar grant from alumna and leader in public research Helen Crossley. The grant will be used to create the Crossley Center for Public Opinion Research at the Korbel School.

Crossley received her master’s degree from DU in 1947 in social sciences and served in the United States Information Agency at the State Department before helping to create the World Association of Public Opinion Research. She also broke ground in her graduate work at DU with the Denver Community Survey. Her father, Archibald Crossley, was a leader in public opinion research, establishing some of the first polling methods along with his contemporary George Gallup.

“We are gratified with Helen Crossley’s generous gift and excited to launch the Crossley Center,” said dean of the Korbel School, Ambassador Christopher Hill, in a statement.

The Crossley Center at DU will not only conduct public opinion and survey research, but also train students in how to gather research on American and international public opinion and interpret the data.

Floyd Ciruli will be the center’s director. He is an adjunct professor at Korbel, teaching classes on public opinion and international policy, as well as a pollster and political analyst for his firm Ciruli Associates in Denver. His classes in survey analysis will serve to promote the Crossley Center’s goals.
The grant also comes at a time when the Korbel School is already encountering change with the grand opening of the Sie Complex and eventual merger of the Institute for Public Policy Studies with the Korbel School.