| December 1999
Campaign Gift of
$15 Million From the McKnight Foundation
Creates 15 New Endowed Chairs
Regents' Professor Ron Phillips Named
First Chairholder
The University of Minnesota has received
a gift of $15 million from the McKnight
Foundation to create 15 new endowed chairs.
The chairs, to be called the McKnight
Presidential Endowed Chairs, will be assigned
at the university president's discretion
to attract or retain the very best faculty
in fields of critical importance across
the university.
Funds from the endowment will be spread
across the university, with an effort
to balance support for both the sciences
and the arts and humanities.
Regents' Professor Ron Phillips was named
the first recipient of a new McKnight
Presidential Endowed Chair. Professor
Phillips joined the university faculty
in 1968. His pioneering work in plant
biotechnology, which includes regenerating
corn plants from cultured cells, has had
a world-wide effect on agricultural development.
The McKnight Foundation made an undesignated
gift of $10 million to the U in 1987 during
the Minnesota Campaign. The gift was used
to create the McKnight Arts and Humanities
Endowment in the College of Liberal Arts.
Another portion was used to endow the
McKnight Land-Grant Professorship Program
for outstanding junior faculty, which
has benefited 107 faculty members so far.
The growth of the endowment led to the
creation in 1995 of the Distinguished
McKnight University Professorship Program,
which rewards high-achieving faculty who
have recently attained full professor
status. To date, 27 faculty have been
honored in this way. The new McKnight
gift is the largest gift to date to Campaign
Minnesota, announced in October, which
aims to raise $1.3 billion in private
gifts by 2003 for endowment and ongoing
program support. Campaign gifts through
November total $668 million.
The McKnight Foundation supports efforts,
primarily in Minnesota, to strengthen
communities, families, and individuals,
particularly those in need; contributes
to the arts; encourages preservation of
the natural environment; and promotes
scientific research in selected fields.
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