Across campus faculty, staff and alumni are working to host a $1.5 million faculty chair drive in honor of Chancellor Dan Jones.
The drive, announced on May 15, only has 16 days left, but Wendell Weakley, president and CEO of the University of Mississippi Foundation, said they have every reason to believe they will hit the $1.5 million minimum.
Weakley said the Athletics Association, Women’s Council, Alumni Association, Faculty Senate, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Ole Miss staff and many other groups on campus made the drive possible.
“All of those groups came together in a fairly short period of time to help in the process of reaching out to all constituent groups,” Weakley said.
Though many chairs are designed for one department or area of campus, Weakley said this one was designed to encompass any part of campus.
“This chair, we felt, should be broad-based,” Weakley said. “It will allow the provost to use it for the highest and best need of the university. It could go many different schools over its lifetime. Whatever the greatest need is.”
The funds could go into effect as early as this August depending on the results of the drive, he said. If the drive is met with the minimum $1.5 million and no more, the funds will be put away for 24 months to acquire interest before the chair is installed. If the funds exceed that amount enough, the endowment will become available as early as this August.
The drive for this chair, held predominately online on ignite.olemiss.edu, the university crowdfunding site, is divided into three groups: faculty, staff and alumni.
“Each group wanted to have their own identity and show their support for this initiative,” Weakley said. “When you add these three pieces together, that sum will be the fund that ultimately goes into the endowment for the chair.”
Wendell Weakley said the UM Foundation was a “driving force” behind the concept due to the number of board members who wanted to give back to Jones – specifically Susan Thames.
Susan Thames said after working with or under Jones for more than 12 years, she wanted to support something in his honor that would serve his interests.
Thames said this particular gift would help the university to continue to grow and accumulate top-level professors.
“This is the greatest incentive to bring in excellent faculty from around the country,” Thames said. “It’s crucial in the recruitment and the retention of gifted professors.”
Thames said his many contributions to the University of Mississippi Medical Center and his tenure as chancellor “brought magnanimous tribute to both institutions.”
“Every time someone came to him and said ‘I need help’ – whether it was a student, a volunteer, faculty or staff – he was right there,” Thames said. “You just don’t get that kind of hands-on assistance from people in that high of a leadership position and he always was there. This man has done more for this state and its institutions than anyone that I could ever even imagine.”
Weakley said those involved in the gift kept it a secret until the surprise announcement on May 15.
“It was really a great day,” Weakley said. “It was a very touching moment. It was clearly the right gesture for someone that thinks about service as much as he does.”
