Chancellor’s Fund for Excellence endowed chairs

Chancellor Brady Deaton has announced that three new endowed chairs will be funded in order to enhance academic excellence and support Mizzou Advantage. The endowed chairs will be within areas that strengthen Mizzou Advantage themes in building long-term, sustainable research and educational programs and in forming networks of collaborators, both within MU and with external partners. The new position funds are made possible by generous donors to the Chancellor’s Fund for Excellence, enabling us to ensure an annual level of $75,000 funding per chair; the earnings equal to an endowment of $1.5 million per position.

The Chancellor’s Fund for Excellence was created by donors to the university with the intent of providing flexible funds to be used at the discretion of the Chancellor to stimulate leading-edge initiatives in the university’s mission.

Endowed chair positions should align with one or more of the five principal areas of the Mizzou Advantage, building on and strengthening the network and support base needed to ensure the success of the endowed chair. Our experiment in creativity is to support distinguished faculty who will stimulate ideas and approaches that reveal the extent and new dimensions of these interrelationships.

Within this broader context of support for Mizzou Advantage, the Chancellor’s Fund for Excellence has two priorities for these endowed chairs. One focuses on initiatives that strengthen external linkages—e.g., with non-profit organizations, corporations, foundations, and government agencies—with the intent of leveraging these linkages into a larger support base.

A second major priority is to ensure balance in the creative and performing arts and the humanities for the Mizzou Advantage. The creative and performing arts and the humanities are seen as central components to the Mizzou Advantage area of “Understanding and Managing Disruptive and Transformational Technologies.” Clearly, the creative and performing arts and the humanities are fundamental to the other four areas of the Mizzou Advantage as well.

Funds for the three endowed chairs will be provided for a five-year period in partnership with the respective college(s). The college(s) commit to continued funding of the endowed chair position after five years. Continued funding for the endowed chair can be achieved in a variety of ways including mortgaging future positions and/or by making the position a priority in our forthcoming development campaign. The endowed position will then be made available for a new appointment in another area of high priority on campus.

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