WHAT ’ S A CHAIR ?
For most of the world , it ’ s furniture . For a university , it ’ s a promise of profound and lasting impact .
BY JADE GRIFFIN ’ 03 AND KRISTIN LUCIANI ‘ 09
UNIVERSITIES HAVE USED endowed faculty chairs for some 500 years to recognize the world ’ s top scholars — from Sir Isaac Newton to Marie Curie to Stephen Hawking . The honor is no less prestigious today , and actually serves as an important tool to bring the world ’ s greatest minds to lead the labs and classrooms here at UC San Diego .
Typically funded by a philanthropic endowment , chair positions provide a perpetual source of funds to support scholarly work , including research and teaching , as well as graduate student fellowships . Endowed chairs contribute to UC San Diego ’ s mission to improve the world by training the students of tomorrow and fueling the scientific and medical breakthroughs that will solve society ’ s most pressing problems .
Increasing the number of endowed chairs is a key initiative for the UC system . In 2014 , UC President Janet Napolitano allocated $ 40 million in matching funds for eight endowed faculty chairs at each of UC ’ s 10 campuses . UC San Diego donors met the challenge and established eight new chairs , bringing our current total to 185 chairs , 34 years after UC San Diego ’ s first endowed chairs — the Irwin Mark and Joan Klein Jacobs Chair in Information and Computer Science , and the Chair of Judaic Studies — were established in 1981 .
So pull up your own chair and meet some of the many minds making a difference at UC San Diego . Their impact is made possible by generous benefactors who believe in the power of an endowed chair .
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