University seeks more endowed chairs

The University is seeking to add 18 to 20 new endowed professorships to increase the quality of research and teaching at Tufts. Many departments are in need of additional endowed chairs and adding them will be a top priority, according to President Larry Bacow.

Of the $609 million raised in the recent Tufts Tomorrow campaign, $55 million have been earmarked for endowed faculty chairs.

The addition of new endowed professorships would increase the University's visibility in the greater academic community, among other benefits, Dean of Arts and Sciences Susan Ernst said.

The awarding of endowed chairs can attract new talent to the University or honor outstanding work of current faculty members, according to the Tufts Tomorrow website.

Larger gifts are often used to recruit new faculty to the University, a process that is more expensive than choosing current Tufts faculty due to the "additional salary and related expenses," Bacow said. "This statement is true not just for Tufts but for all major universities that I know."

Endowed chairs are usually appointed at the senior level so the professors already have extensive experience in their fields, Ernst said. Successful applicants for Tufts faculty or endowed chair positions usually have national reputations in their fields, and are frequently international names as well, Ernst said.

The University would also benefit from having endowed chairs at the junior level, Ernst said. Professors might hold such positions prior to receiving tenure, which would allow them to move around to different departments in the University, she said. Endowed chairs at any level "would help attract the best people."

Another advantage of bringing new faculty to Tufts is that they "have their own network," she said. Holders of endowed chairs often bring guest speakers to campus.

Currently, about 30 professors in the Schools of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering hold endowed chairs. The positions cover many different subjects, spanning areas such as Entrepreneurship and Business Economics, Armenian Art and History, Rhetoric and Debate, and Biblical Literature.

In comparison, Indiana University leads the Big Ten public universities with over 300 endowed faculty positions.

Receiving an endowed professorship is considered one of the greatest honors in academia. A chair-holder's annual salary is paid for with the interest on a donation given to name a chair in a specific department. Universities cherish this form of philanthropy because it lasts in perpetuity.

When the University begins the process of raising funds for an endowed chair, it seeks to match the donor's desires with the school's needs. "Donors often have an idea of an area they're interested in," Ernst said. Very specific topics, such as particular artists or authors, are generally avoided to allow breadth and development of the chair.

Other universities are similarly likely to avoid narrow descriptions for new chairs. This summer, officials McGill University in Montreal turned down a million-dollar proposal for an endowed professorship to study the works and philosophy of Ayn Rand because the topic was not broad enough for a position that would last "in perpetuity."

Allowing room for a chair's development is particularly important in the sciences, where some fields move extremely quickly, Ernst said.

The University continues to honor the donor's purposes when finding replacements for endowed positions. "When a chair is vacated, I go back to the records before we decide how to refill the chair," Ernst said. "It's enjoyable to go back and look at the records a hundred years ago to really see what that person's intentions really were."

Almost every department within the School of Arts and Sciences could benefit from receiving a new endowed chair, Dean of Arts and Sciences Susan Ernst said.

Ernst also emphasized the importance the University places on teaching undergraduates. "No matter how great a [academic] star someone is, we are still looking for people" who want to teach, Ernst said. Candidates for chairs must be "passionate about the field but also about communicating it to the next generation."

The oldest existing endowed professorship, the William Walker Professor of Mathematics, dates to 1880. Only five different professors have held the Walker chair over the past 122 years; it is currently held by Professor Richard M. Weiss.

Some of the existing endowed professorships continue only in name, however, since the original endowment was not structured to last.

The University continues to seek out sources of support to improve the quality of research and education. "We have lots of needs, our job is to articulate them and engage our alumni, friends and supporters to match our needs to their interests," Bacow said. "We never stop looking for additional endowment."

Development directors at each of the Tufts' schools handle the necessary steps after a potential donor has expressed interest in funding an endowed professorship.