Thanks to the generosity of three donors, the University will be able to do more to recruit and retain “outstanding” faculty members, University officials announced Thursday.
More than $10 million in donations will go to the University’s larger fundraising campaign, Campaign Oregon: Transforming Lives. About half of the gift, from an anonymous donor, will be used for a campus-wide faculty excellence program, University President Dave Frohnmayer said.
Senior Vice President and Provost Linda Brady said good professors have an impact on the rest of students’ lives. She said the donations are essential to the University’s future because more than half of the faculty will reach retirement age in the next decade.
“Faculty support gifts will enhance our success in the recruitment and retention of the very best faculty in an increasingly competitive marketplace,” she said.
Jeffrey Hurwit, the president of the University Senate said the University is always at risk for losing its best faculty because a lack of support from the state makes it difficult to offer competitive salaries.
“It is no secret that the U of O and its faculty have been severely under-funded for many, many years,” he said. “The good news is that because of its faculty, the U of O is a much, much better institution than it has the right to be given past levels of state support.”
What was gifted
Four million dollars came from the estate of the widow of James Wallace, a 1950 graduate of the School of Journalism and Communication. Wallace worked as a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and the U.S. News & World Report. He died in 2004. The donation will support faculty excellence in the School of Journalism and Communication as well as an endowed chair in writing and reporting. Wallace’s estate also donated several works of art collected when the couple lived and worked in Asia.
Abbott and Laura Keller donated $1 million to fund a distinguished scholar award and two faculty fellowships in the Lundquist College of Business Department of Finance. Abbott Keller graduated from the University in 1972 and is the cofounder and chief investment officer of Kestrel Investment Management Corp. in San Mateo, Calif.
A third anonymous donor recognized the importance of retaining “outstanding faculty” and donated $5.2 million, Price said. The funds will be used to retain faculty who are at-risk of being recruited by other schools.
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