AMES, Iowa- Benefactors to Campaign Iowa State: With Pride and Purpose have responded to the need to attract and retain the very best faculty instructors and researchers by doubling the number of endowed faculty positions at Iowa State University.
Iowa State University President Gregory Geoffroy announced at yesterday's (Sept. 20) University Convocation that 75 additional endowed faculty positions have been created during Campaign Iowa State, bringing the new total to 150 and reaching the goal set when the campaign was launched on July 1, 2003.
These positions are endowed with individual funds ranging from $500,000 to $3 million. More than $167 million has been raised for faculty support during Campaign Iowa State.
"While student scholarships, programmatic support, and gifts for facilities are extremely important to enhancing the Iowa State experience, nothing will have a greater long-term impact on the excellence of the university than being able to attract and retain the very best faculty through endowed positions," Geoffroy said. "Competition for the best scholars is intense, and it is critical that we have these types of positions to remain competitive in our faculty hires and retentions.
"Because of the generosity of our many donors, there are a number of examples of faculty whom Iowa State has been able to recruit to our campus from prestigious universities across the country, in part, through a named, endowed position. These positions have also allowed our academic colleges the leverage to entice our own top Iowa State faculty members being recruited elsewhere to remain in Ames with an endowed professorship or chair."
These prestigious and uniquely named faculty positions have a multi-pronged effect, creating additional opportunities for those who hold them. Funds can be used in any number of ways. Holders of such positions can hire additional graduate assistants and post-doctoral fellows, allowing them the flexibility in pursuing scholarship that isn't directly tied to a research contract or exploring unconventional activities not yet undertaken.
The 75 newly created endowed faculty positions are evident throughout the Iowa State campus including:
- Named deanships have been created in the Colleges of
Agriculture and Life Sciences, Business, and Veterinary
Medicine.
- The College of Human Sciences has dramatically increased
its endowed faculty positions by adding 13 such
positions.
- Named departmental chairs in the College of Engineering
have been instrumental in recruiting two new individuals to
chair the departments of aerospace engineering, and electrical
and computer engineering this academic year.
- A partnership with the State of Iowa has created five endowed faculty positions, including the very first endowed position named in honor of George Washington Carver.
The Iowa State University Foundation is a private, non-profit
corporation dedicated to securing and managing gifts and grants
that benefit Iowa State University.
