The University of Texas at Tyler University Advancement
Endowed Chairs & Professorships
Dr. Paul Streufert, Honors Program Director, with UT Tyler students.
ENDOWED CHAIRS AND PROFESSORSHIPS
Academic greatness is based on three pillars: great faculty, great students, and great teaching and research facilities.
Great students are attracted to degree programs taught by great faculty in modern, well-equipped classrooms and laboratories.
Keeping and attracting outstanding faculty is the fundamental reason why increasing the number of endowed Chairs and Professorships at The University of Texas at Tyler is one of the three highest priorities of the $30-million Inspiring Excellence Campaign.
Retaining and recruiting top faculty is a major challenge in what is a highly-competitive world. At every college and university in the nation, endowed Chairs and Professorships are vital in keeping outstanding faculty from going elsewhere, and in recruiting additional world-class faculty members.
Appointments to an endowed Chair or Professorship are highly-prized by those meritorious faculty members so honored.
Endowed Chairs and Professorships represent career academic achievement; those who hold such appointments are considered faculty leaders, and mentors to their colleagues.
Just one extraordinary individual has the power to transform many others around them with energy, enthusiasm, and by enlightened example.
Faculty members at UT Tyler who have most successfully harnessed this transformational power to influence others around them – who do the most to imbue our students with creativity and fresh ideas – are the teachers of greatest value and who most deserve the honor of an endowed Chair or Professorship.
With a full-time faculty of over 300, there are far fewer endowed Chairs and Professorships at UT Tyler (less than 20) than the number of faculty who richly deserve to be awarded this honor.
To stay competitive in retaining and recruiting our best faculty members – the teachers here who are best-equipped to shape the bright minds of our students – we simply must build the number of endowed Chairs at The University of Texas at Tyler.
THE POWER OF ENDOWED CHAIRS AT UT TYLER
Celia and Sam Roosth Chair in Education. Michael R.L. Odell, Ph.D., was recruited to The University of Texas at Tyler four years ago as Professor of STEM Education in the College of Education and Psychology. As part of the recruitment package, he was awarded the Celia and Sam Roosth Chair in Education. The Roosth Chair was donated to UT Tyler a decade ago by the Sam Roosth Foundation.
Since his arrival at UT Tyler, Dr. Odell has built one of the best and most comprehensive STEM programs in the State of Texas. Because of his strong academic background and expertise, Dr. Odell has become the single most productive faculty member at the University in terms of attracting well over $5 million in government and private grants for his programs and has helped faculty colleagues attract nearly $1.7 million more.
Because Dr. Odell had offers from other, even larger, universities before deciding to come to UT Tyler, he says that being offered the Roosth Chair was the determining factor. “The Roosth family, through their Foundation gift of the Chair, made it possible for me to come here, and it has provided for my research, which is national and international in scope.” Dr. Odell adds that with the help of Roosth Chair funds, he and his team are able to reach out to every young person in East Texas to provide a better educational opportunity.
Sam A. Lindsey Chair. In the summer of 2010, the UT Tyler Provost successfully recruited a nationally-prominent scientist from Kansas State University to chair the Department of Biology in the College of Arts and Science. Srini Kambhampati, Ph.D., has a proven record for attracting additional funding from government and private resources. Dr. Kambhampati attracted grants and other extramural funding at Kansas State that nearly equal all such funding currently coming to The University of Texas at Tyler.
Faculty members with such impressive track records for attracting outside funding, like Drs. Kambhampati and Odell, can dramatically boost the quality of research and education at a time when State funds are dwindling year by year. Income from endowed Chair and Professorship investments significantly helps offset costs that would otherwise have had to come from the University budget for salaries and other important university needs.
Distinguished University Chair $2,000,000
Distinguished Chair $1,500,000
Chair $1,000,000
Distinguished University Professorship $500,000
Distinguished Professorship $250,000
Professorship $100,000
UT Tyler Endowed Chairs and Professorships
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George F. Hamm Endowed |
Liberal Arts |
Paul Streufert, Ph.D. |
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Not Designated |
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Education |
Michael Odell, Ph.D. |
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Education |
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Biochemistry |
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Ethics & Leadership |
Keith McCoy, Ed.D. |
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Not designated |
Tammy Cowart, JD |
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Computer Science |
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Engineering |
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Nursing |
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Nursing |
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Harold Doty, Ph.D. |
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Art |
Alexis Serio, M.F.A. |
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Dr. Ben R. Fisch |
Not Designated |
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Windsor-Richardson Endowed |
Not Designated |
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Not Designated |
John Vasselli, M.S.S.M. |
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Pam Martin |
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Engineering and Computer Science |
Michael McGinnis, Ph.D. |
Frequently Asked Questions About Gifts of Endowments
GIVE TO ELECTRONICALLY, BY MAIL OR BY PHONE TO THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT TYLER TODAY!!
University Advancement
The University of Texas at Tyler
3900 University Blvd.
Tyler, TX 75799
903.566.7110
advancement@uttyler.edu