Endowing the Future

Endowed faculty positions shape generations of academic distinction.

 

By Tamara Linse

 

An endowed chair, professorship or fellowship at the University of Wyoming is more than a title — it is a permanent commitment to excellence. Unlike one-time gifts or annual appropriations, an endowment is built to last. Its invested principal is a permanent fund with annual distributions to provide steady reliable support for a faculty member’s teaching, research and service year after year, in perpetuity.

Nationally, leaders in higher education have long recognized endowed positions as a university’s most powerful tool to secure academic quality. As frequently highlighted by The Chronicle of Philanthropy, endowed chairs are transformational because they attract and retain exceptional scholars, provide long-term financial stability and signal to the marketplace that an institution is serious about distinction. They are, quite simply, the gold standard of philanthropic investment in higher education.

At UW, endowed faculty positions provide lasting stability that empowers extraordinary scholars to pursue bold research and innovative teaching without the uncertainty of year-to-year funding. These positions strengthen recruitment and retention in an increasingly competitive academic marketplace, ensuring that UW attracts and supports top talent. They also connect students to both foundational knowledge and cutting-edge discovery, enriching the educational experience. At the same time, endowed positions honor the priorities and legacies of families, corporations, foundations and the state of Wyoming, creating enduring and personal partnerships between donors and the university’s land-grant mission. Ultimately, they represent investments not only in individual faculty members but also in the intellectual future of the state.

 

UW’s First Endowed Chair 

The story of endowed faculty positions at UW begins in 1990 with a gift from John and Jane Wold. John Wold was a U.S. House member, World War II veteran, geologist, business executive and philanthropist. The John and Jane Wold Centennial Chair in Energy is a model of the kind of visionary philanthropy that endowed chairs are meant to represent.

The Wolds established the Wold Chair as the first fully funded endowed academic chair in the university’s history. It advances energy-related education and research for the benefit of the state. In 2020, the Wold Foundation made an additional investment to enhance the chair’s prominence, making it one of the most prestigious awards at the university.

Since its founding, the Wold Chair has been held by a distinguished series of scholars, including mathematician and chemical and petroleum engineer Richard Ewing, sedimentologist Ron Steel, chemical and petroleum engineer Norman Morrow and geologist John Kaszuba, whose work on fluid-rock interactions directly advances subsurface understanding in Wyoming. 

 

A National Model: The State Matching Program
The Wyoming Legislature’s State Matching Program was and continues to be a visionary investment — changing the game for fundraising not just for endowed faculty positions, but for the university as a whole. It is a national model for how the state can work directly with donors to elevate higher education to new heights of excellence.

The State Matching Program was established in 2001 by the Wyoming Legislature to strengthen private support for UW. Athletics facilities matching was added in 2003, followed by academic facilities matching in 2005. The program is designed to leverage the generosity of donors by creating powerful incentives to invest in UW’s academic, athletic and facility priorities. By amplifying private philanthropy with state support, the program helps drive extraordinary momentum — contributing in part to the success of the university’s last comprehensive campaign, “Distinction: The Campaign for Wyoming’s University.” Concluded in 2005, that campaign raised $204 million, including $48 million in endowment gifts that were matched through the program.

Few investments offer a 100 percent return, yet that is precisely the impact of the State Matching Program. Endowment gifts of $50,000 or more and facility gifts of $25,000 or more are matched dollar-for-dollar by the state of Wyoming — turning a $50,000 gift into $100,000 of impact and a $1 million gift into $2 million. Today, total state matching funds across all three programs exceed $237 million, underscoring the program’s transformative and enduring impact on the university’s growth and excellence.

The effect just on the endowed faculty portfolio is dramatic. Faculty support funds have been beneficiaries of the matching program, and donors have supported new endowed professorships in fields ranging from petroleum and natural gas economics to astronomy and animal science. 

 

Donor Support: The Heartbeat of the Program
Throughout the history of endowed faculty positions at UW, private donors have been essential partners. The state matching program and the Excellence in Higher Education Endowment (outlined below) create powerful frameworks — but it is the generosity of alumni, friends, families, foundations and corporations that has brought the program to life, one gift at a time.

Donors give for a variety of reasons. Some give out of deep personal gratitude for their own UW education, and others give because they are grateful for their faculty mentors and understand the link between faculty excellence and student success. Many give in memory of loved ones or to honor mentors who shaped their careers. Regardless of motivation, each gift represents a vote of confidence in the university’s missions in teaching, research and service.

The privately endowed portfolio has grown to include named deans, chairs and professorships across every college at UW. For example, the College of Education’s John P. “Jack” Ellbogen Deanship was established in 2020 by the John P. Ellbogen Foundation as the university’s first endowed deanship. Another example, the Curtis and Marian Rochelle Chair in Animal Science, advances research on fetal programming with implications for both agriculture and human health. In geology and geophysics, private endowments in petroleum engineering and reservoir characterization connect fundamental research to the state’s most critical industry. In mathematics and statistics, the Patrick Heasler Professorship — established by a UW alumnus grateful for the education he received — creates a permanent foundation for recruiting and retaining outstanding faculty in a discipline central to virtually every field of inquiry.

The UW Foundation has been the institutional backbone of the endowed faculty program, stewarding gifts, managing endowment assets and providing the infrastructure that makes long-term private investment in UW possible. In addition, the UW Foundation Board of Directors, who are donors themselves, has not merely facilitated others’ generosity, but has demonstrated its own, using foundation board resources to leverage additional private giving and to support the endowed faculty program.

 

The Wyoming Excellence in Higher Education Endowment 
In 2006, the Legislature invested directly in faculty excellence by creating the Excellence in Higher Education Endowment, which enables UW to establish endowed faculty positions — known as Wyoming Excellence Chairs. UW began its first faculty searches in 2007. Over the next several years, the university filled a total of 19 positions. These positions reflect Wyoming’s areas of focus — education, business, engineering, the sciences, the humanities, law and natural resource management. The Wyoming Excellence Chairs program created a cohort of nationally and internationally recognized scholars whose work directly benefits the state. Read more here. 

 

The University Today
In 2022, two new efforts helped boost student and faculty excellence. First, the UW Board of Trustees made an investment in funds for students, faculty and research excellence. Second, the UW Foundation Board made an investment to create two endowment matching funds: $2.5 million for student success and $2.5 million for faculty excellence that resulted in four new endowed positions, including the H.A. “Dave” True Jr. Family College of Business Deanship. UW partnered with donors to match these gifts. In 2024, the state invested $10 million in state matching funds through the already-established Endowment Challenge Program — with the trustees designating $5 million for student success and $5 million for faculty excellence, which resulted in 13 new endowed faculty positions in sales, Wyoming history, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, mathematics, economics, physics and astronomy, WORTH (Wyoming Outdoor Recreation, Tourism and Hospitality), and a named deanship in the College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources.

What began as a commitment to academic distinction has grown into a robust portfolio of 92 named and endowed faculty positions spanning colleges, disciplines and research frontiers across the university. Today, UW’s endowed faculty community includes four deanships, five endowed department head positions, 26 endowed chairs, 44 professorships and 13 fellowships. Complementing these are 19 Wyoming Excellence Chairs, three non-endowed professorships, one non-endowed chair, and three non-endowed fellowships, further strengthening the university’s academic foundation.

These endowed positions are more than just titles — they are enduring engines of excellence. Designed to provide stable perpetual support, they empower scholars to pursue bold ideas, to mentor future leaders and to address the most pressing challenges of our time. They transcend economic cycles, political shifts, and generational change and ensure that UW remains not only competitive but visionary.

The impact of this sustained commitment is unmistakable. In early 2025, UW achieved Research Level 1 (R1) status from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, placing it among the nation’s top research universities. In 2024, the university also earned the Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement for the first time, joining just 368 institutions nationwide to receive this distinction. Together, these milestones reflect the strength of a university whose academic excellence and public mission advance hand in hand.

Endowed faculty positions stand as lasting reminders that, when philanthropy and public purpose align, the results extend far beyond a single generation.  

 

Timeline

1990 – The John and Jane Wold Chair in Energy is established — the first fully funded endowed academic chair in UW history, marking the beginning of a new era in faculty excellence. 
1990s – A small but growing number of privately funded endowed positions are established, each representing donor confidence in UW’s mission. 
2001 – The Wyoming Legislature establishes the Endowment Challenge Program (W.S. 21-16-903), the landmark state matching program that doubles eligible endowment gifts. Private giving to UW is transformed overnight. 
2003 – The Legislature expands the public-private partnership model with the Athletics Facility Matching Program (W.S. 21-16-1403). 
2005 – UW completes the comprehensive campaign, “Distinction: The Campaign for Wyoming’s University,” raising $205 million, $48 million of which went to endowment funding, including faculty excellence funds. 
2006 – The Academic Facilities Matching Program (W.S. 21-16-1003) is established, extending the matching framework to academic facilities. 
2006 – The Wyoming Legislature establishes the Excellence in Higher Education Endowment — a $105 million appropriation, with $70 million designated to UW. This creates the Wyoming Excellence Chairs program, state-funded endowed faculty positions aligned with Wyoming’s economic and social priorities. 
2014+ – State matching funds continue to leverage private gifts, creating a growing portfolio of privately endowed faculty positions. 
2021 – The University Endowment Challenge Program marks its 20th anniversary. Total matching funds across all three programs at the time exceed $222 million. The university endowment has grown from $134 million to $795 million, and the number of endowment funds has more than doubled from 664 to over 1,600. 
2022 – The UW Board of Trustees and the UW Foundation Board each make new investments in faculty excellence, demonstrating a strong commitment to one of the foundational priorities of the university. 
2024 – UW earns the Carnegie Elective Classification for Community Engagement for the first time, which recognizes UW’s deep, sustainable and reciprocal partnerships with local communities.   
2025 – UW achieves Research Level 1 (R1) status for very high research activity from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education — placing UW among the top 5 percent of U.S. research universities and strengthening our ability to attract top talent and boost Wyoming’s economy. 
2026 – UW’s endowed faculty portfolio now includes four deanships, five endowed department head positions, 26 endowed chairs, 44 professorships and 13 fellowships — 92 positions. There are 19 Wyoming Excellence Chairs, which are funded by the state. More than $237 million in total state matching funds have been invested since 2001, a remarkable 25-year investment in UW’s land-grant mission.