UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 36, Page 8
July 9, 1992
Puglisi is first MBNA professor

     On a bright June 25, outside the gazebo in a garden courtyard at
MBNA America in Newark, Donald J. Puglisi, of the Department of
Finance in the College of Business and Economics, was recognized as
the first MBNA America Business Professor. Approximately 50 MBNA
employees, University faculty and staff, and Puglisi's wife, Anita,
attended the event.
     Puglisi is using the stipend from the professorship to create a
scholarship in the College of Business and Economics in honor of his
father, the late John F. Puglisi of Margate, Fla.
     In January, University President David P. Roselle announced a
gift of $525,000 from MBNA America- $200,000 to establish the
professorship and the remainder to fund the MBNA Concourse at the Bob
Carpenter Center. Roselle called MBNA one of Delaware's "outstanding
corporate citizens," noting that since 1982, when the company moved to
Delaware, giving has totaled nearly $1 million in support of a variety
of programs.
     Steve Chambers, Delaware '85, MBNA senior vice president and
director of personnel, welcomed the group.
     Kenneth Biederman, dean of the College of Business and Economics,
thanked MBNA for its generous support. Provost R. Byron Pipes read the
citation naming Puglisi the MBNA America Business Professor and
presented it to him.
      Puglisi said the stipend that accompanies the professorship
allowed one of his dreams to come true for it enabled him to honor his
father with a named scholarship.
     He said he especially appreciated being the first holder of the
professorship because it was given for teaching excellence and
symbolized the importance the University and college place on
high-quality teaching.
     Puglisi praised MBNA as a model in its corporate structure, its
innovations, its citizenship and its use of technology. MBNA has
demonstrated its "appreciation and pursuit of excellence," he said,
and he looks forward to strengthening the strong ties that exist
between the University and MBNA.
     A graduate of Michigan State University where he also received
his MBA with a concentration in finance, Puglisi earned his doctorate
in business administration from Indiana University Graduate School of
Business. He has been a member of the Delaware faculty since 1971.
                                        -Sue Swyers Moncure