Faculty

RECRUITING AND RETAINING GREAT FACULTY

Because of the essential role that faculty play at any institution, competition to recruit and retain outstanding scholars and teachers is keen and growing more and more intense. There is no doubt that endowed chairs are a critical and effective tool for recruiting and retaining the country’s best faculty. Endowed chairs are also vital to recruiting distinguished senior faculty who have served for many years on the faculty of another institution.

a major factor in my decision to come to Vanderbilt was the opportunity to be the first Joe L. Roby Chair in Economics. The chair appealed to me as a recognition of past accomplishments, but I also view it as a challenge. A chair is a challenge to provide leadership in teaching and research.
–Professor Eric Bond

At Vanderbilt, named chairs signal scholarly achievement, distinction, and the promise of future discovery through exceptional teaching and ground-breaking research. While some universities include many named chair holders on their faculties, many of those distinguished scholars have no contact with undergraduate students. At Vanderbilt, we work very hard to build a faculty of renowned scholars and researchers who also teach undergraduates. Undergraduates value access to the most exciting and talented scholars and teachers, and Vanderbilt’s commitment to a tradition of excellence in teaching remains a core value.

Endowed, named chairs are established through generous gifts from donors who recognize the importance of lasting support for outstanding faculty. The original endowment gift for a named chair is never spent. Instead, the funds are invested, and a portion of the earnings is used each year to support the research and teaching of the chair holder.

Those with an interest in ensuring faculty quality through an endowed chair have different options:

Type of Chair Gift Level Description
Endowed University Chair $2,500,000 Used to support a distinguished interdisciplinary scholar whose work influences multiple fields of study, formally appointed to two or more school faculties of the University
Endowed Chair $2,000,000 Used to recruit or retain a scholar whose achievements have earned distinction

Gifts of this size can be made in one gift or funded through a pledge, payable over as many as five years. If funding is completed over a period of years, earnings are typically reinvested. When the gift is completed, the chair is available to be filled.

To find out more about endowing a chair, please contact Jonathan Petty, Associate Dean, at (615) 322-8119.

CURRENT ARTS AND SCIENCE ENDOWED CHAIRS

Endowed Chairs and Chair Holders

  • Gordon A. Cain, Jr. University Professor of Physics and the A.B. Learned Professor in Living State Physics, John Wikswo
  • Centennial Professor of Economics, Yanqin Fan
  • Centennial Professor of English, Mark Jarman
  • Centennial Professor of Mathematics, Emmanuele DiBenedetto
  • Centennial Professor of Mathematics, Alexander Ol’Shanskiy
  • Centennial Professor of Mathematics, Mark Sapir
  • Centennial Professor of Philosophy, John Lachs
  • Centennial Professor of Political Science, Mitchell Seligson
  • Centennial Professor of Psychology, Randolph Blake
  • Centennial Professor of Psychology, Gordon Logan
  • Chancellor’s Professor of History, Michael Bess
  • Chancellor’s Professor of Spanish, Cathy Login Jrade
  • Chancellor’s University Professor of Physics, John Gore
  • Distinguished Professor of German, Barbara Hahn
  • Distinguished Professor of History, James A. Epstein
  • Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, Alain Connes
  • Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, Ralph McKenzie
  • Distinguished Professor of Political Science, John G. Geer
  • Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Jon H. Kaas
  • Jack and Pamela Egan Chair in Chemistry, Sandra J. Rosenthal
  • Samuel Milton Fleming Professor of English, Tony Earley
  • Landon C. Garland Distinguished Professor of Physics, Joseph Hamilton
  • Norman L. and Roselea J. Goldberg Professor of Art History, Christopher Johns
  • Eugene Greener Jr. Professor of Jewish Studies, David Wasserstein
  • Ingram Professor of Anthropology, Arthur Demarest
  • E. Bronson Ingram Professor of Economics, Jennifer Reinganum
  • E. Bronson Ingram Professor of Neuroscience, Jeffrey D. Schall
  • Martha Rivers Ingram Professor of English, Vera Kutzinski
  • Martha Rivers Ingram Professor of History, Helmut W. Smith
  • Martha Rivers Ingram University Distinguished Professor of History, Peter Lake
  • Andrew Jackson Professor of American History, Richard Blackett
  • W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy, Marilyn A. Friedman
  • W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy, Larry May
  • W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy, Kelly Oliver
  • W. Alton Jones Chair in Philosophy, David C. Wood
  • William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English, Jay Clayton
  • William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English, Cecelia Tichi
  • James M. Lawson Jr. Professor of History, Dennis Dickerson
  • University Distinguished Professor of Physics and Engineering and William A. and Nancy F. McMinn Professor of Physics, Sokrates Pantelides
  • Holland M. McTyeire Professor of History, Daniel H. Usner Jr.
  • Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Lenn E. Goodman (Philosophy)
  • Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Jonathan Lamb (English)
  • Edwin Mims Professor of English, Leah Marcus
  • Nancy Perot Mulford Professor of English, Lynn Enterline
  • Frederick B. Rentschler II Professor of Sociology and Medicine, Health and Society, Jonathan Metzl
  • Joe L. Roby Professor of Economics, Eric Bond
  • May Werthan Shayne Chair in Public Policy and Social Science, Larry M. Bartels
  • James G. Stahlman Professor of History, Gary Gerstle
  • Stevenson Chair in Biological Sciences, Carl H. Johnson
  • Stevenson Professor of Biological Sciences, Kenneth Catania
  • Stevenson Professor of Biological Sciences, Ellen Fanning
  • Stevenson Professor of Biological Sciences, James G. Patton
  • Stevenson Professor of Chemistry, Jeffrey N. Johnston
  • Stevenson Professor of Chemistry, Ned Porter
  • Stevenson Professor of Chemistry, Gary Allen Sulikowski
  • Stevenson Professor of Mathematics, Gennadi Kasparov
  • Stevenson Professor of Mathematics, Larry Schumaker
  • Stevenson Professor of Neurobiology, Kendal Broadie
  • Stevenson Professor of Physics, Leonard Feldman
  • Nelson Tyrone, Jr. Professor of American History, Elizabeth Lunbeck
  • University Distinguished Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences, George Hornberger
  • University Distinguished Professor of Economics and Law, W. Kip Viscusi
  • University Distinguished Professor of English, Houston A. Baker
  • University Professor of Biochemistry, Chemistry and Pharmacology, Lawrence J. Marnett
  • University Professor of Law and Political Science, Edward L. Rubin
  • University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, Amy-Jill Levine
  • Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in History, William P. Caferro
  • Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in History, Jane G. Landers
  • Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies and French, Tracy Sharpley-Whiting
  • Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Economics, Tong Li
  • Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Economics, John A. Weymark
  • Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English, Michael Kreyling
  • Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English, Dana Nelson
  • Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English, Hortense Spillers
  • Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Psychology, Sohee Park
  • Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Psychology, Steven D. Hollon
  • Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Spanish, Edward Friedman
  • Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Spanish, William Luis
  • Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Sociology, Larry Isaac
  • Robert Penn Warren Professor in the Humanities, Colin Dayan (English)
  • Rebecca Webb Wilson University Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Religion and Culture, Tom Dillehay