By Max Blechman | The Duquesne Duke
Duquesne announced in February the establishment of five new donor-funded endowments to go into effect in 2015.
The endowments will sponsor one student, one professorship, two fellowships and one academic chair. Each endowment was established with the help of alumni and those with close ties to the University.
According to Associate Director of University Advancement Jim Miller, all of the donations came from or were encouraged by members and associates of the Century Club of Distinguished Duquesne Alumni. These influential donors are helping to increase the prestige of the school through these endowments, according to Dean McFarlin, dean of the business school.
“[These endowments] help to increase the value of alums degrees, to attract students and to attract faculty,” McFarlin said. “It’s really a no-lose situation, so to speak.”
Two fellowships were established for the business school. The first is the KPMG Fellowship for accounting, which will go toward a faculty member teaching an accounting class to help him or her develop networks and conduct research. The fellowship was started by the global chief executive of the KPMG financial advisory corporation, Ted Senko, a 1978 graduate from the School of Business.
The second is the Harry T. Witt Faculty Fellowship, which will help to provide funding for databases and equipment software in support of a faculty member in any field of the business school.
The business school will also receive an endowment for the establishment of a professorship for entrepreneurial finance, funded by the Merle E. Gilliand Foundation. All of the donors are graduates of the school.
Additionally, the McAnulty School of Liberal Arts announced the Patricia Doherty Yoder and Ronald Wolfe Endowed Chair in Communication Ethics. The $1.5 million gift was provided by Yoder and Wolfe, both alumni of Duquesne, and will provide support for a student studying communication ethics.
Finally, The Boys and Girls Club of Sarasota County established a $1.75 million fund to pay for the full, four-year tuition of one incoming freshman from the club every four years.
These five new endowments go toward Duquesne’s overall endowment fund total of more than $262 million. The total endowment fund has doubled in the last five years.
