The man who put the “K” in Dreamworks SKG, founder and CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, along with his wife Marilyn, recently announced plans to donate $1.25 million to Boston University’s College of Communication and College of General Studies, schools from which Katzenberg’s children graduated.

According to CGS Dean Linda Wells, the Katzenberg donation will be used to create a third-floor study center, to be named the Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Center.

“The new center will be a place to read, write and think in a space that’s aesthetically conducive to quiet study and reflection,” Wells said in the newsletter.

Wells said the project should be completed this summer and will be dedicated next fall, possibly on Parents’ Weekend.

“I am extremely grateful to the generosity of Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg,” she said in an email. “Their naming gift has encouraged others-alumni, parents and friends of the college-to help us make this new space the academic center of our college.”

The money allocated to COM will be used to upgrade the facilities of two programs, the photojournalism program and the film and television department. According to photojournalism Director Peter Southwick, the Katzenberg donation will be used to upgrade the existing darkroom and digital photo lab, while also allowing for the creation of a new digital lab and photography studio.

In addition, the money will be used to purchase new cameras, lenses and lighting equipment, Southwick said.

“We intend to maintain our traditional photography lab for the foreseeable future, and this donation ensures its viability,” he said in an email. “The addition of a second cutting-edge digital lab will enable us to move more of our instruction and class work into the digital format to keep pace with the demands of the professional world.”

Southwick said the gift will allow the photojournalism department to upgrade its physical facilities to match the quality of teaching that contributes to the program’s reputation as one of the best university-level photojournalism degree programs in the country.

In the film and television department, the donation will be used to promote a high-definition initiative at the production and post-production levels, Film and Television Chairman Charles Merzbacher said. The donation will allow the department to upgrade its top-level editing equipment and will help to add a high definition component to the film and television curriculum at the production level.

Merzbacher said the gift allows the department to lease high-definition cameras over a 10-year period, instead of buying equipment that could become outdated in an age of rapidly increasing technology.

“I think that every university out there is trying to figure out how to teach motion pictures in the digital age,” he said.

Photojournalism professor Joe Lippincott, along with COM dean John Schulz, said they appreciate the gift from the Katzenberg family.

“We’re utterly delighted and most grateful for this generous donation by the Katzenberg family,” Schulz said.

Lippincott said he taught Laura Katzenberg in two of his photojournalism courses.

“It is gratifying to know that Laura’s parents, Jeffrey and Marilyn, believe the educations Laura and her twin brother, David, a film major, received in COM merit … gifts to the BU film and photojournalism programs,” he said in an email. “It’s a terrific gesture and much appreciated by all of us in the photojournalism program.”