Bicentennial Professors Fund

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Bicentennial Professors Fund

OVERVIEW

A Successful Venture

In January 2023, President Jim Ryan announced the University’s final investment in the Bicentennial Professors Fund, a matching gift opportunity that increased the impact of gifts to support endowed professorships. Established by the Board of Visitors in December 2017, the effort raised more than $500 million in gifts for prestigious faculty chairs.

In addition to support received and matched for endowed professorships, gifts of $5 million were matched dollar-for-dollar for University Professorships, a longstanding program that awards the title of "University Professor" to exceptionally distinguished faculty, especially those whose specialties crossed multiple disciplines.

All matching funds have been utilized for gifts to create Bicentennial Professorships. Thanks to the generosity of those who took advantage of the historic matching program, the University has strengthened its ability to recruit and retain outstanding faculty who are regarded not only for their intellectual leadership but for their ability to inspire future citizen leaders.

 

 

Bicentennial Professors Fund

Bicentennial Professors

The impact of the Bicentennial Professors Fund is evident in the high caliber of research and teaching faculty elected to bicentennial chairs. Thanks to the strong response to UVA’s matching gift opportunity, the University has been able to recruit and retain faculty who stand out in the classroom and whose work across disciplines is advancing scholarship nationally and globally.

Kristina Richardson
Kristina Richardson

Kristina Richardson

Kristina Richardson joined the University in fall 2022 as the John L. Nau III Professor of the History and Principles of Democracy and Professor of History and Middle Eastern & South Asian Languages and Cultures.

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Pedro Matos
Pedro Matos

Pedro Matos

Pedro M. Matos was recently named the James A. and Stacy Cooper Bicentennial Professor of Business at the Darden School of Business. He also is the Macfarlane Family Professor of Business Administration at Darden.

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George Geis
George Geis

George Geis

George S. Geis, the William S. Potter Professor of Law and former director of the John W. Glynn Jr. Law & Business Program, is the inaugural Glynn Family Bicentennial Professor of Law.

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A top priority for the Honor the Future campaign is retaining the very best faculty and attracting talented faculty who sustain UVA’s tradition of outstanding teaching and groundbreaking research.
Support UVA Faculty

Contact the development officer in the school/area of your interest to learn more about making a gift to support faculty at the University of Virginia.

Where to Give
Involve. Inform.
Inspire

Endowed professorships enable UVA to recruit the most dynamic and distinguished faculty, driving research and collaboration at the University. These positions are an honor to hold and an enduring tribute to their establishing donor.

The Bicentennial Professors Fund was established by the Board of Visitors in December 2017 to help the University attract the next generation of top faculty. By supporting nearly 150 endowed professorships, the fund has served as a powerful tool for building and sustaining the University’s faculty far into the future.

TOTAL GIFTS + MATCHING FUNDS RAISED

Outstanding faculty receive crucial support for their research and scholarship, thanks to gifts to create endowed professorships. Bicentennial professorships will promote innovation and confirm a scholar’s standing among peers, both within UVA and throughout the academic world.

  • Elena Loutskina
    Peter M. Grant II Bicentennial Foundation Chair in Business Administration

    A professor at the Darden School of Business, Elena Loutskina teaches a number of classes in the area of finance and her research focuses on financial intermediation. Her work has been published in top academic journals, including the Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, and the Journal of Financial Economics. Recognized by students and the dean's office for her teaching accomplishments, she received the UVA Alumni Association Distinguished Professor Award in 2019.

  • Greg Fairchild
    Isidore Horween Research Associate Professor of Business Administration

    An expert in business strategy, ethics, leadership, and entrepreneurship, Fairchild specializes in underserved, overlooked markets. MBA-focused news publication Poets & Quants named Fairchild its 2018 MBA Professor of the Year. His research, which centers on financial risks and the impact of community development financial institutions, is supported by the Isidore Horween Research Professorship, created by Ralph Horween and Frederick Stow (Darden ’58).

  • Trey Maxham
    William Stamps Farish Entrepreneurial Research Professor

    In addition to serving as associate dean for graduate programs at the McIntire School of Commerce, Maxham teaches global immersion courses and conducts research examining quantitative models that link customer analytics to financial performance. The William Stamps Farish Professorship, created in 1982, helps fund Maxham’s studies in entrepreneurship. An expert in marketing, his research has appeared in leading marketing journals and his work has been profiled in BusinessWeek, Forbes, the Washington Post, NBC, and other media outlets.

Nau Lecture Hall
Faculty Support
A Match for Excellence
A major gift to the Center for Teaching Excellence, with a match from the Bicentennial Professors Fund, will transform the center and sustain faculty excellence at UVA.
Faculty & Academic Excellence

Other Opportunities

Advising
The Dathel and John Georges Student Center is the heart of Advising at UVA. The center’s staff help students find answers to questions about majors and careers, as well as direct them to research and internship opportunities.
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USOAR
Close student-faculty interaction is at the heart of USOAR, or Undergraduate Student Opportunities in Academic Research. Through USOAR, students obtain paid research experience—working 5-10 hours a week—and the chance to build strong and thoughtful relationships with faculty.
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Center for Teaching Excellence
The Center for Teaching Excellence is key to UVA’s extraordinary culture of learning and student-faculty interaction. With services that enhance faculty and graduate teaching assistants' teaching and professional development, CTE keeps alive the magic that occurs when impassioned teachers challenge bright students in the classroom and beyond. Your support for CTE will ensure its success.
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