Endowed chairs and professorships in schools of nursing: a 1999 update.

Abstract

INCE 1984, when the first survey of endowed chairs in schools of nursing was published (Fitzpatrick, 1985), the number of recorded chairs has increased from 20 as of 1984 to 167 as of the first half of 1999. The 1990s have been particularly productive: many schools have enhanced their development efforts and thus substantially increased their private funding, including funding for endowed chairs. The increase in the numbers of chairs since the 1995 publication of the survey results (Fitzpatrick, 1995) is in itself impressive. From 1995 through the first half of 1999, 64 new chairs and professorships have been funded in schools of nursing. Several aspects of the survey data are noteworthy. First, deans were contacted to determine the initial endowment amount that was committed at the date that the professorship/chair was officially named. To the extent that the author has been able to determine, this is the amount reported in column three of Table 1. It Is prominent that, even with endowments committed in the same year, there are major differences in the total amounts. This variation can be attributed to differences in the college and university requirements for named professorships or chairs. In some universities, a smaller amount is required for an endowed professorship compared with an endowed chair. In other universities, there is no distinction made between endowed professorships and endowed chairs. Also, it can be noted from the data reported in Table 1 that there generally is an increase in the amount of an endowed professorship/chair as the years progress. For example, the amount required for an endowed chair in many of the top universities at this time is