Three professorships established at LSUS
08/31/04
(News Release and two Backgrounders)

Dr. E. Joseph Savoie, Louisiana commissioner of higher education, presented three checks today totaling $120,000 representing the state Board of Regents’ matching funds for three endowed professorships in the LSUS College of Business Administration. The checks were presented in a news conference at the LSU Health Sciences Center.

The Regents provided $40,000 funding matches for the Joe and Abby Averett Professorship in Business, the BellSouth Corporation Professorship in Business Administration and the Bank One Jerry D. Boughton Professorship in Business. The professorships are now fully endowed at $100,000 each.

Joe and Abby Averett have been among of the university’s most influential supporters and fundraisers. As president of the LSUS Foundation, Joe Averett spearheaded the LSUS 30th Anniversary Campaign, which was the first major fundraising campaign in the university’s history. He was also personally responsible for the largest donation in LSUS history when he arranged for El Paso Energy to donate the Crystal Oil Building, valued at more than $3 million. In 2002, the Averetts agreed to help raise funds for RiverBend Revue, the LSUS Foundation’s major annual fundraiser. With their help, the 2002 RiverBend Revue raised more than $100,000. This year’s RiverBend Revue will be held at the Horseshoe Casino and Hotel’s Riverdome on Thursday, Sept. 9.

BellSouth’s corporate generosity is expansive, impacting more than 100 area organizations with financial and volunteer support. In addition to its support of LSUS through the BellSouth Professorship, BellSouth awarded the campus two significant grants totaling $136,000 to prepare K-12 classroom teachers from five parishes to successfully use the Internet as a teaching tool.

Bank One has a long history of working to improve the communities it serves. In 2003, Bank One donated more than $42 million to communities across its 15-state market area, making it one of the largest corporate givers in those markets. Bank One has supported LSUS students with scholarships through the Bank One Scholarship as well as sponsoring events and activities on campus.

Under the Regents’ Endowed Chairs for Eminent Scholars program, LSUS has two fully endowed chairs. Another chair has received full private funding and is awaiting the state’s match. With the three new professorships, LSUS has two super professorships, 12 fully endowed professorships and three partially funded professorships.

A major purpose of the endowed chair and professorship program is to create stronger economic development ties between the private sector and higher education. To create endowed chairs and professorships, colleges and universities must raise 60 percent of the cost from private sources. Including the matching funds from the state, professorships are endowed at $100,000, super professorships at $200,000 and chairs at $1 million. There are also $2 million super chairs.

Funding for the Louisiana Education Quality Trust Fund, from which the Board of Regents draws the match for chairs and professorships, is generated through a permanent trust fund approved by voters in a 1986 constitutional amendment. The trust fund was established with about $540 million received from settlement of disputed oil and gas revenues generated in the so-called 8(g) stipulation of the Federal Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. A quarter of the interest earned from investment of 8(g) oil and gas revenues will continue to be returned to the trust fund until it reaches a cap of $2 billion. By 2004, the trust fund had risen to about $953 million. Each year, the Legislature appropriates half of the interest earnings to the Board of Regents, the policy-making and coordinating agency for all public higher education in Louisiana, and the other half to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for grades K-12.

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Backgrounder(1):

LSUS has two chairs, 14 professorships

With the receipt of matching funds from the Louisiana Board of Regents for three professorships, LSUS now has fully endowed two chairs, two super professorships and 12 professorships. The university also has one privately endowed chair waiting for the state’s match and three partially funded professorships. Total contributions received from donors and the Board of Regents for the fully endowed LSUS chairs and professorships is $3.6 million.

The two chairs, which are endowed at $1 million each, are:

• American Studies Chair, established in 1994 by Norman and Peggy Kinsey. Dr. William D. Pederson, professor of political science and director of the LSUS International Lincoln Center, is the current chair designate.

• Ruth H. Noel Chair for the Curatorship of the James Smith Noel Collection, established in 2003 by Ruth Herring Noel. Dr. Robert C. Leitz III, professor of English, is the current chair designate.

‚ The Kilpatrick Life Insurance Company Chair of Insurance and Financial Services has been privately funded by Virginia K. Shehee and is awaiting the state’s matching funds.

The two super professorships, which are endowed at $200,000 each, are:

• Oscar Cloyd Real Estate Super Professorship in the College of Business Administration, established in 1999 by the Shreveport-Bossier Board of Realtors. Dr. Douglas S. Bible, professor of finance and chair of the Department of Economics and Finance, is the current professor designate.

• Kilpatrick Life Insurance Super Professorship in the College of Business Administration, established in 2002 by Virginia K. Shehee. Dr. Harvey W. Ruben, professor of finance, is the current professor designate.

The 12 professorships, each endowed at $100,000, are:

• India Studies Professorship, College of Liberal Arts, established in 1995 by the India Association of Shreveport. The LSUS Indian Culture Distinguished Lecture Series is the current program designate.

• James K. Elrod Professorship in Health Care Administration, College of Liberal Arts, established in 2000 by the Willis-Knighton Health System Board of Trustees. Dr. John Fortenberry Jr. is the current professor designate.

• Elmer & Barbara Simon Professorship for Excellence in Teaching – a universitywide professorship – established in 2000 by Bruce and Steven Simon. Dr. Judith L. Covington, associate professor of mathematics, is the current professor designate.

• AEP SWEPCO LaPREP Professorship in the College of Sciences, established in 2001 by Southwestern Electric Power Company. Dr. Carlos G. Spaht II, professor of mathematics, is the current professor designate.

• George and Regina Khoury Professorship in the College of Sciences, established in 2002 by George A. Khoury Jr. Dr. Deborah K. Shepherd, assistant professor of mathematics, is the current professor designate.

• George A. Khoury Jr. Professorship in American Humanics, College of Liberal Arts, established in 2002 by George A. Khoury Jr. Dr. Norman A. Dolch, professor of sociology and director of the Institute for Human Services and Public Policy, is the current professor designate.

• Dr. Richard K. Speairs Professorship in Field Biology, College of Sciences, established in 2002 by Dr. Richard K. and Betty Speairs. Dr. James L. Ingold, professor of biological sciences, is the current professor designate.

• Don and Earlene Coleman Red River Watershed Management Institute Professorship in the College of Sciences, established in 2003 by the late Don Coleman and Earlene Coleman. Gary M. Hanson, assistant professor of environmental science, is the current professor designate.

• Sybil T. and J. Frederick Patten Professorship for Excellence in Teaching in the College of Liberal Arts, established in 2003 by Sybil T. and J. Frederick Patten. Dr. Megan L. Conway, professor of French, is the current professor designate.

• Joe and Abby Averett Professorship in Business, established in 2004 by Joe and Abby Averett. This professorship is currently unfilled.

• Bank One Jerry D. Boughton Professorship in the College of Business Administration, established in 2004 by Bank One. This professorship is currently unfilled.

• BellSouth Corporation Professorship in Business Administration in the College of Business Administration, established in 2004 by the BellSouth Corporation. This professorship is currently unfilled.

The three partially funded professorships are:

‚ Wesson-Bridger Professorship in Teacher Education, College of Education and Human Development.

‚ O. Delton Harrison Professorship.

‚ Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Louisiana Professorship.

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Backgrounder(2):

Regents Awarding $10.4 Million to Louisiana Colleges
and Universities for Endowed Chairs and Professorships

BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana Board of Regents is in the process of presenting $10.4 million in matching funds to public and private colleges and universities across the state. The funds will help create 16 new Endowed Chairs for Eminent Scholars and 100 new Endowed Professorships.

The state-funded portion of these new endowed chairs and professorships will match $15.6 million in private donations under the state/private funding ratio provided for in the 1986 constitutional amendment establishing the Louisiana Education Quality Support Fund (LEQSF).

“Visiting the campuses for these presentations provides the Regents and Louisiana’s postsecondary education community in general an opportunity both to recognize our generous donors and to spotlight the enormous success of the Endowed Chairs and Professorships Program,” said Commissioner of Higher Education Joe Savoie. “The Louisiana Education Quality Support Fund and the generosity of the many private citizens and corporations in this state who understand the importance of investing in Louisiana’s colleges and universities are two very significant reasons why Louisiana higher education is moving in the right direction.”

Since 1986, the Board of Regents has been able to award some $181 million in matching grants through the program, creating 230 endowed chairs, including 18 $2 million super chairs, and 1,367 endowed professorships. When matched with private contributions, the value of those chairs and professorships is almost $385 million.

Funding for the endowment matching funds program is generated through a permanent trust fund approved by voters in a 1986 constitutional amendment. The original $540 million payment was part of a settlement between the state and federal governments over disputed off-shore oil and gas royalty funds. By 2004, the trust fund (sometimes called the “(8g) money”) had risen to approximately $953 million. Twenty-five percent of the interest earned each year is reinvested in the trust fund. The Legislature appropriates half of the remaining interest to the Board of Regents for higher education and the other half to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for grades K-12.

“The LEQSF makes it much easier for Louisiana’s colleges and universities to attract new scholars and researchers,” Savoie said. “The fund also goes a long way toward stemming the much-publicized ‘brain drain’ by providing the means for our institutions to retain eminent faculty members who themselves attract high-quality graduate students.”

Additionally, the program helps create stronger economic development ties between the private sector and higher education. To create endowed chairs for eminent scholars and endowed professorships, colleges and universities must raise 60 percent of the cost from private sources. For example, to create an endowed chair for an eminent scholar, a college or university first must raise at least $600,000 from private contributions, which then makes them eligible to receive the Regents’ $400,000 match. The total value of the endowed chair is $1 million. Similar provisions apply to $2 million chairs. In the endowed professorship program, $60,000 must come from private sources to qualify for the Regents’ $40,000 match.

The $10.4 million in matching funds being awarded in the Endowment Program throughout the state is funded through the Regents’ share of the interest earned by the LEQSF over the past year.

Receiving matching grants for endowed chairs and professorships [endowed chairs total $1 million and endowed professorships total $100,000]:

• LSUS – 3 professorships

• LSU Health Sciences Center- Shreveport – 2 chairs

• Centenary College – 1 professorship

• Grambling State University - 1 professorship

• Northwestern State University – 1 professorship

• Louisiana Tech University – 7 professorships

• University of Louisiana at Monroe – 4 professorships

• LSU-Alexandria – 1 professorship

• Louisiana Delta Community College (Monroe) - 3 professorships

• LSU Agricultural Center – 3 professorships

• Dillard University - 1 chair; 4 professorships

• Louisiana State University and A&M College – 3 chairs, 6 professorships

• LSU Health Sciences Center- New Orleans – 3 chairs, 6 professorships

• LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center - 1 chair

• LSU Pennington Biomedical Research Center - 3 chairs

• Loyola University – 6 professorships

• McNeese State University - 4 professorships

• Nicholls State University – 6 professorships;

• Our Lady of Holy Cross College – 2 professorships

• Our Lady of the Lake College – 6 professorships

• Saint Joseph Seminary College - 2 professorships

• Southeastern Louisiana University – 2 professorships

• Southern University A&M - 1 professorship

• Southern University Law Center – 3 professorships

• Tulane University – 6 professorships

• Tulane Health Sciences Center – 3 chairs; 7 professorships;

• University of Louisiana at Lafayette – 7 professorships

• University of New Orleans – 1 professorship

• Xavier University – 7 professorships.

Louisiana Board of Regents Contact:
Kevin Hardy
Communications Director
225-342-4253 (office)