Dive Brief:
- The Chronicle profiles the utility and prestige of the endowed faculty chair, which offers its holders financial and research security as a benefit for living on campus and in cities which has provided them opportunities, sometimes over many years.
- Occidental College recruited noted urban geographer Virginia Parks through an established endowed chair, which she says attracted her away from the University of Chicago with the promise of financial support for research and travel to scholastic conferences.
- Funds supporting an endowed chair generate revenue from investments, which all but guarantees salary and support for the appointee over long-term, or lifetime appointments.
Dive Insight:
If there is a fundraising area that colleges and universities could focus upon to spur enrollment, donations and research capacity in a single bound, it would be support for endowed chairs. These positions enhance the celebrity factor on a campus community, which helps to encourage student interest and application, media coverage of a particular major, and niche funding from supportive donors.
If colleges can match endowed chairs with academic areas of strength, or majors in which there are strong connections with local or regional industry, these partnerships can increase potential opportunities to grow revenues in multiple areas, particularly if they are used as resources to help in cultivating faculty diversity.