Development
Alumni and Friends Respond to Call to Support Faculty Excellence
Texas Tech has achieved a notable benchmark toward its academic mission through the Regents Faculty Endowment Program. To date, Texas Tech University has generated $13.5 million and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center has added $3.5 million in Regents Professorships and Chairs for a total of more than $17 million.
When the entire Regents Endowment program is complete, TTU will have more than $20 million in new funds to support faculty and students, and the HSC will have $6.5 million in faculty endowments.
�The recruitment, retention and advancement of distinguished faculty are all mainstays in Texas Tech�s advancement toward national preeminence,� said Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement Mark Lindemood. �This successful initiative is proof that Texas Tech alumni and friends are keenly interested in partnering with us to enhance the depth and breadth of Texas Tech�s research stature and academic standing.�
Under the banner of the university system�s Path to Preeminence academic fund-raising drive, the push to generate new funding for professorships and chairs was championed by Texas Tech Chancellor David R. Smith, M.D., and presidents Jon Whitmore, Ph.D., and M. Roy Wilson, M.D., M.S.
�Great universities are known for how well they recruit and retain esteemed faculty,� says Texas Tech President Jon Whitmore. �One of the indicators of this support is the number of endowed faculty positions a university awards.�
�Faculty members rely on endowments to enhance their research and teaching endeavors. Named Regents Professorships bring prestige to our most outstanding faculty and recognition to our donors,� Lindemood says. �The big winners are the students because a classroom or laboratory that is led by an inspired and committed professor is a place where dreams and aspirations take root. That dynamic alone bears the potential to catapult both of Texas Tech�s universities to a new level of distinction.�
�Endowed professorships create an opportunity for universities to attract or retain highly sought after individuals who in turn enhance the institution�s reputation for quality education and research,� says Texas Tech Health Sciences Center President M. Roy Wilson.