In just a dozen years, the number of endowed professorships at the University of Delaware has increased more than tenfold, reaching a significant milestone with the establishment this fall of the 100th such position.

“There is no great university without a great faculty,” President David P. Roselle says. “Endowed professorships are an important way to support a great faculty, because they are helpful in recruiting and retaining the best professors.”

In 1997, the University had 21 endowed professorships. Today, the total endowment is approximately $60 million and supports more than 100 professorships and chairs.

“This growth hasn’t been an accident,” Provost Dan Rich says. “It’s been a targeted priority under President Roselle’s leadership.”

Rich notes that the goal of increasing the number of endowed professorships was set before the University launched its comprehensive fund-raising initiative, the Campaign for Delaware, in 1998. But, he says, the Campaign’s priorities included an emphasis on attracting and retaining the finest professors and rewarding top faculty members for their teaching, research and service. As a result of that targeted objective, the number of endowed professorships and chairs increased rapidly during the successful Campaign.

The 100th professorship was endowed by Kathleen and David Hollowell to support a position in the Department of Mathematical Sciences focusing on secondary school math education. Kathleen Hollowell is director of the University’s Mathematics and Science Education Resource Center, and David Hollowell is UD executive vice president and treasurer. Both joined the University 17 years ago.

“We are deeply indebted to the Hollowells, not only for their continuing service to the University of Delaware but for their generous gift,” Roselle says. “What the Hollowells have done for us is a great aid when you’re out talking to people about the possibility of supporting the institution, if you’re able to say to them, ‘This, this and this have happened—done by employees of the institution,’ it makes a very large difference.”

At its December meeting, the University’s Board of Trustees passed a resolution saluting the Hollowells for their generous gift.

The Kathleen and David Hollowell Professorship will recognize a faculty member who is “actively involved in teaching, research and service in the area of secondary school mathematics.” The recipient has not yet been selected.

The Hollowells say they had been planning such a major donation to the University for some time. When they realized that the number of endowed professorships was nearing 100, they decided it would be meaningful, as members of the UD community, to use their gift to mark that milestone.

“Great universities have significant numbers of named professors,” David Hollowell says. “We’ve both worked in education our entire lives, and we wanted a way to recognize high achievement.”

That’s exactly what endowed professorships do, according to Rich. “The endowed professors define what excellence means in teaching, research and service. They serve as a model for high standards,” he says.

Roselle says the establishment of endowed professorships brings both institutional and personal benefits. For individual faculty members, he says, the position is an honor that brings recognition and financial support for the professor’s teaching, research and service.

“And, for the University, such positions help us recruit and retain leading professors, thus deepening our pool of instructional and research talent,” Roselle says.

The original goal was to create enough endowed positions that one-fourth of UD’s full professors could be recognized with such an honor. Roselle says he is “very pleased” that the objective now has been surpassed, with the potential for continued growth.

Endowed professorships have been established in all seven colleges, all academic domains and most departments, Rich says. Many focus on instruction and research, while other positions—including the Emily L. Phelps Director of The College School and the L. Sandra and Bruce L. Hammonds Professor in Teacher Education—emphasize service.

Rich says donors who choose to endow a faculty position recognize that such a gift is a way “to make a lasting, living contribution and strengthen the core of the University.”
“When you think of the key relationship that makes up a university, it’s the connection between faculty and students,” he says. “Everything revolves around that. When you donate to the faculty endowment, that really strengthens the University’s core.”

The University currently is well-known for a doctoral program that focuses on math education in elementary schools, and Kathleen Hollowell says she hopes the new professorship will extend that to increase the number of UD doctoral students working in the field of secondary math education.

In the years leading up to the 100th endowed position, numerous generous gifts to the University have been key to the growth in named professorships, which are funded by a minimum endowment of $350,000, and chairs, with a minimum endowment of $1 million, Robert R. Davis, vice president for development and alumni relations, says.