College officials announced Monday that the Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience received $14 million in new donations -- $10 million of which came from a single source. The new funds are slated to be used to further the College's continued efforts to bring distinguished professors to Hanover.
The ten million dollar gift is the donation of the Sherman Fairchild Foundation, a longtime donor to the College. It will endow two distinguished professorships, according to a press release. The remaining $4 million, half of which came from Ronald G. Harris '71, will allow for the creation of two Award Funds for Scholarly Innovation and Advancement in the Arts and Sciences.
Faculty will be selected to receive five-year distinguished professorships based upon their achievements and the promise they show in their fields. Though the selection details are still being determined, the process will focus on those areas where Dartmouth has the potential to achieve both national and international prominence.
The College plans to begin searching for candidates by the fall of 2007, Dean of the Faculty Carol Folt said. Upon completion of their professorship, alumni will receive the honorary title of Sherman Fairchild Fellow.
"I think these are perfect initiatives because they directly support what we're trying to do," Folt said. "At the heart of the campaign is the growth and the development of academic programs. That means not only adding faculty, but adding them in ways that will directly invigorate and improve the Dartmouth experience."
Recipients of the professorships are expected to bring new light to their disciplines and enhance curriculum with new areas of study, Folt said.
"Many of these [Distinguished Professors] are likely to bridge across disciplines, because that's where a lot of innovations come from," Folt said, adding that the professorship includes a significant amount of funding for the development of new programs and curricular innovation.
"That's a very exciting place to be when you're doing research as well as when your teaching," she added. "I think students gravitate to working with these types of professors."
Likewise, the Award Funds for Scholarly Innovation and Advancement will recruit senior faculty who have developed promising initiatives that might otherwise lack funding. Recipients will be selected through a peer-review application system, which college officials expect to be highly competitive. The award will fund two years of research.
"The two donors who stepped forward to launch the Award Funds for Scholarly Innovation and Advancement are long-time supporters of Dartmouth's faculty. I and my colleagues are indebted to them for this important new investment in our academic priorities."
Both the Sherman Fairchild Foundation and Harris are longtime supporters of Dartmouth's academic initiatives. Harris's past contributions include funding the Ronald and Deborah Harris Professorship in the Sciences, the Harris Fellowship Challenge and the Thomas Kurtz Conference Room in the new Kemeny Mathematics Building.
"Dartmouth seeks to develop lifelong learners and critical thinkers by actively engaging students with faculty in the creation of knowledge," said President James Wright, thanking the donors for their contributions. "These very special professorships will assure that Dartmouth will continue to define and to extend the intellectual curiosity that is our lifeblood."
