Honoring Donors Smu Endowed Faculty Positions

A CENTENNIAL LUNCHEON HONORING DONORS OF SMU ENDOWED FACULTY POSITIONS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 THE MARTHA PROCTOR MACK GRAND BALLROOM UMPHREY LEE CENTER, SMU CAMPUS AS PART OF ITS YEAR OF THE FACULTY COMMEMORATION, SMU SALUTES THE CENTURY- LONG CONTRIBUTIONS OF ITS FACULTY TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY, THE SUCCESS OF ITS GRADUATES, THE ADVANCEMENT OF THEIR DISCIPLINES AND THE BETTERMENT OF SOCIETY. A SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTOR TO FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENT HAS BEEN THE CREATION OF ENDOWED FACULTY POSITIONS – PROFESSORSHIPS AND CHAIRS – MADE POSSIBLE BY FARSIGHTED AND GENEROUS DONORS. WE HONOR THOSE WHO HAVE SUPPORTED THE SMU FACULTY AND THOSE WHO HOLD THESE PRESTIGIOUS APPOINTMENTS. A CENTENNIAL LUNCHEON HONORING DONORS OF SMU ENDOWED FACULTY POSITIONS FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014 WELCOME BRAD E. CHEVES Vice President, Development and External Affairs INVOCATION STEPHEN RANKIN Chaplain and Minister to the University LUNCHEON A CENTURY OF EXCELLENCE R. GERALD TURNER President FACULTY PERSPECTIVES MARK N. VAMOS William J. O’Neil Chair in Business Journalism ALYCE M. MCKENZIE George W. and Nell Ayers LeVan Chair of Preaching and Worship JOSHUA ROVNER John Goodwin Tower Distinguished Chair in International Politics and National Security TRUSTEE ACKNOWLEDGMENT MICHAEL M. BOONE ’63, ’67 Chair, Board of Trustees STATEMENT OF GRATITUDE CAREN H. PROTHRO Co-chair, The Second Century Campaign A CENTURY OF FACULTY SUPPORT Since the first faculty member was recruited to SMU a century ago, leaders of the University have ensured that SMU faculty have the resources to excel in their teaching and research efforts. That’s why, in the current Second Century Campaign, increasing the number of endowed faculty positions is a priority. The importance of endowed academic positions is described further in the following essay, adapted from “Seats of Excellence: Endowed Chairs Add Special Areas of Expertise to the Faculty” by Susan White, M.L.A. ‘05, which first appeared in the Fall/Winter 2013 issue ofSMU Magazine. New endowments created through The Second Century Campaign are having a profound impact on SMU, helping drive the University’s exciting rise among the best private universities in the nation. Endowments for faculty positions make it possible for SMU to recruit top faculty and reward current faculty for outstanding research and teaching, helping ensure the University’s academic quality well into the future. SMU has 102 substantially endowed faculty chairs. SMU’s Board of Trustees recently increased the targeted goal from 100 to 110 endowed faculty positions for the remainder of the campaign. “The number is significant because of what it tells the rest of the world about the University, including organizations that rank colleges and universities,” says Linda Eads, associate provost for faculty affairs and Dedman School of Law professor. “The best faculty in the country note if SMU is hiring for and growing its number of endowed chairs. It means that SMU is on the move academically and that our alumni and donors support our goals in this area.” Normally, a gift designated for an endowed faculty position takes five years to become fully funded, at which point an appointment can be made. But during the campaign, the Board established new centennial endowments in recognition of SMU’s 100th anniversary. These giving opportunities provide permanent funding as well as operational funds to initiate the faculty position or scholarship quickly. For example, Centennial Distinguished Chairs are endowed at $2.5 million, plus start-up funding of $1 million for the first five years to provide immediate support for the position and related research. Other funding levels create centennial chairs and professorships. Attracting Top Experts Among the prominent experts to join SMU thanks to a faculty endowment is Frederick R. Chang, the Bobby B. Lyle Centennial Distinguished Chair in Cyber Security in Lyle School of Engineering. Chang, whose career credentials include leadership positions in academia, business and government, including the National Security Agency, is developing a multidisciplinary program aimed at tackling today’s most pressing cyber challenges. Chang’s Centennial Distinguished Chair is made possible by a financial commitment from SMU trustee and longtime benefactor Bobby B. Lyle ’67, for whom SMU’s engineering school is named. “Research is significant under Dr. Chang’s leadership, but he also teaches courses that make information about cyber science and security accessible to students of all disciplines,” Lyle says. Reflecting a trend toward greater interdisciplinary collaboration, Chang also is a senior fellow in the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies. Looking at security issues from another angle is Joshua Rovner, the John Goodwin Tower Distinguished Chair in International Politics and National Security, who brings wide- ranging discussions on the use of force and war to SMU’s undergraduate program in political studies. Rovner, who writes extensively on strategy and security, also is director of studies for the Tower Center and associate professor of political science in Dedman College. Before joining SMU, Rovner served as associate professor of strategy and policy at the U.S. Naval War College. Chang and Rovner join a distinguished faculty that has included endowed chairs since the University’s early years; among them are faculty members’ names familiar to the thousands of alumni they taught. SMU’s first endowed chair was the E. A. Lilly Professorship of English, established in 1920 and held by professor Jay B. Hubbell. The chair was later held by beloved English professors Lon Tinkle and Marsh Terry ’53, ’54, and since 2006 by former SMU Provost Ross C Murfin, a scholar on 19th- and 20th- century British literature. Making an Impact New endowments have built on SMU’s history of faculty excellence. Eads points to Latin American history scholar Kenneth Andrien, the Edmund J. and Louise W. Kahn Chair in History, as another example of a recent appointment that attracted national attention. “There was a recent review of SMU’s Clements Department of History by faculty from UCLA, USC and Yale, and one of the first things they mentioned was SMU’s impressive faculty for Southwest and Latin American studies, including Neil Foley, the Robert H. and Nancy Dedman Professor of History,” she says. “These scholars are among the best in the field, and the appointment of Andrien and Foley shows that SMU is able to compete for top faculty.” Alyce M. McKenzie, who has been at SMU since 1999, was appointed in 2011 to the George W. and Nell Ayers LeVan Chair of Preaching and Worship in Joe and Lois Perkins School of Theology. The appointment signals that “the University values as scholarship the fields of homiletics and liturgics, which are crucial to faith communities and bridge the distance between the academy and church,” McKenzie says. Hemang Desai, the Robert B. Cullum Professor in Accounting in Cox School of Business since 2007, joined SMU in 1998. As a nationally recognized researcher on mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, short selling and financial reporting, he often is quoted in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and The New York Times, among others. The William J. O’Neil Chair in Business Journalism attracted longtime journalist Mark N. Vamos to SMU. His background includes serving as a reporter and editor at Business Week, Newsweek, SmartMoney.com and Fast Company magazine. As the first holder of the O’Neil Chair, Vamos designed and launched an interdisciplinary program with Cox School of Business to prepare undergraduate students to become business journalists for print, broadcast and the web. Linda Eads believes that SMU’s strong current faculty have created the kind of environment that welcomes and attracts the caliber of faculty who are appointed to endowed chairs, who in turn have created new energy among the faculty. “They are doing what they love,” she says. “As more endowed chairs come here, they stimulate the environment for everyone else.” SMU NAMED POSITIONS Since its founding, SMU has received generous contributions from many donors in support of the recruitment and retention of faculty and key administrators, and their important work. Listed below are those named positions supported by endowments and other resources, the donors who provided this generous support, and the individuals who hold these distinguished appointments. 1920 E. A. Lilly Professor in English Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Made possible by Estate of E. A. Lilly Held by Ross C Murfin, Ph.D., University of Virginia 1921 William B. Hamilton Chair in Earth Sciences Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Made possible by Pearl Walker Hamilton † and William B. Hamilton † 1923 George F. and Ora Nixon Arnold Professor in American Statesmanship and Government Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Made possible by Ora Nixon Arnold † Held by James Hollifield, Ph.D., Duke University 1929 Lehman Chair of Christian Doctrine Joe and Lois Perkins School of Theology Made possible by Emma Lehman †; South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church Held by Bruce D. Marshall, Ph.D., Yale University 1954 McCreless Chair of Evangelism Joe and Lois Perkins School of Theology Made possible by Sollie & Lilla McCreless Foundation Held by Elaine A. Heath, Ph.D., Duquesne University 1965 William Edward Easterwood Chair in Philosophy Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Made possible by Estate of Eva Easterwood Held by Douglas E. Ehring, Ph.D., Columbia University Eugene McElvaney Chair in Political Science Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Made possible by Ed E. and Gladys Hurley Foundation; Eugene McElvaney, Sr. † and Sue McElvaney ‘20 †; Dye Foundation; additional donors Held by Dennis S. Ippolito, Ph.D., University of Virginia 1966 Charles F. Frensley Chair of Mathematics Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Made possible by The Brown Foundation, Inc. Held by Ronald Butler, Ph.D., University of Michigan Daisy Deane Frensley Chair in English Literature Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences Made possible by The Brown Foundation, Inc.

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