Endowed professorships and chairs

The university seeks to attract, reward, and retain distinguished faculty, leaders, scholars, and artists of national and international reputation to occupy an endowed chair or a professorship as one of the highest forms of recognition provided by the university.

An endowed chair or professorship is intended to improve an existing program by providing support to attract new faculty members. It can, however, reward an individual of exceptional accomplishments who is already on the faculty.

In addition to rewarding excellence, an endowed position carries with it the expectation of continuing worthy contributions to his or her specialty area. Many donors stipulate specific requirements for an endowed chair or professorship. This endowment process must be sufficiently flexible to meet the desires and wishes of the donors while adhering to all university policies.