Investing in Faculty, Investing in the Future

 

By Frank Mendicino
 
The Wyoming Constitution establishes the University of Wyoming for the purpose of educating Wyoming citizens and making that education nearly as free as possible. Implicit in the wording of the constitution is the expectation that the university will offer broad, high-quality educational opportunities to Wyoming citizens. However, the university can fulfill that expectation only if it has great faculty. Recruiting and retaining great faculty is one of the most important responsibilities of university administrators, and giving university administrators the tools and ability to do so is one of the most important responsibilities of the Board of Trustees.

But these efforts are not enough. During my years on the UW Foundation Board of Directors, I learned that private philanthropy is critically important to enable the university to create a margin of excellence. That recognition and Barbara’s and my desire to give back to the university — where we grew from kids to adults — has led us to make several donations across the university, including the establishment of the Mendicino Family Chair in Sales and Salesmanship.

 

Although the College of Business offered a course in sales before the establishment of the chair, sales was not a high-priority subject. Since nothing happens in business until someone sells something to someone else, I believe sales education is a vital part of an education in business. After a lot of research and discussion, the university agreed to accept Barbara’s and my donation for the establishment of a chair in sales. However, it is important to note that the annual payout from an endowment established to support a chair is not enough to pay salary, benefits and other expenses related to the chair. By agreeing to the establishment of a chair, the university is agreeing to fund the costs of the chair in excess of the annual payout.

The importance of an endowed chair became apparent from the beginning. The College of Business was able to recruit Dr. Mark Leach away from Loyola Marymount, where he was chairman of the Department of Management and Marketing and was making more money than UW offered him. Although starting a sales program from scratch was part of the attraction, Dr. Leach would not have come to UW if the job had not included the support of a chaired position.

In academia, a chaired position is a signal of excellence and esteem, enabling the university to win the race for talent. They help retention of talented faculty — endowed chairs are much less likely to leave because of the prestige associated with their chair. They provide significant reputational benefits to the holder of the chair. Chairs are much more involved in programmatic decisions in their areas of expertise. Often, they are given more flexible teaching loads. The availability of endowed funds protects chairs from budget issues and provides them with much more freedom and flexibility to spend on things that make their programs better and, therefore, advance their careers and have a big impact on the university. 

Dr. Leach has been the Mendicino Chair for a little over eight years. In that time, he has created a robust, very highly regarded sales program. The program has a second tenure-track endowed professor — thanks to the generosity of alum Dimitrios Smyrnios — and a sales center that provides experiential learning to sales students — thanks to the generosity of alum Tim Miles and his estate. Dr. Leach is the incoming president of the University Sales Center Alliance.  Barbara’s and my donation and investment in the Mendicino Chair is one of the best investments we have ever made.  
 
Frank Mendicino, BS ’62, JD ’70, is a former chair and emeritus member of the UW Foundation Board of Directors.