paleonet Fw: Foundation in jeopardy

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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe" <jiacuzzo@cox.net>
To: <vrtpaleo@usc.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, September 06, 2005 4:28 PM
Subject: Foundation in jeopardy


> The Jurassic Foundation, which over the last decade has contributed more
> than $2 million in grants and funding for research in paleontology, is
> facing the possibility of extinction.  Universal Pictures, since its
> acquisition by General Electric, has been looking at cutting the Jurassic
> Park Institute program, and the Jurassic Foundation which is a part of the
> program.  Since no sequel to the Jurassic Park films has received a green
> light, the studio is evaluating what elements of the franchise are worth
> keeping around.
>
>
>
> The Foundation board members - currently Scott Sampson, Dave Weishampel,
> Cathy Forster and Lou Jacobs - have been very gracious in giving of their
> time and energy to its operation.  All these folks get in return for their
> time is a decent meal at the SVP meeting (and the satisfaction of helping
> students.)   However, without the funding provided by Universal, there 
> will
> be nothing to give.
>
>
>
> I was told today that it may be a matter of just a few weeks before a 
> final
> decision is made about the future of the JP Institute.  If any of you 
> would
> like to try and help save this project, please send me a note, off-list
> being appropriate, expressing your support for the foundation and the need
> for funding like this in paleontology.  If you can email something on
> letterhead, with impressive sounding titles, so much the better.  I
> especially hope to hear from all those who have benefited from the monies
> dispersed by the Foundation, with a very brief description of how these
> grants helped your research and contributed to the body of human 
> knowledge.
> I will forward these to the appropriate folks at Universal and Amblin 
> along
> with a reasoned plea for continuation of the project.  We get about 
> 100,000
> hits per week on the web site, primarily children looking for information
> about dinosaurs.  Thousands of teachers are continuing to download and use
> the lessons from our educator section.  Your support will be greatly
> appreciated.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> Joe Iacuzzo
>
> Editor
>
> Jurassic Park Institute
>
> jiacuzzo@cox.net
>
> www.jpinstitute.com
>
> 702.304.1990
>
>
>
>

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