LAW LEADERSHIP GIVING: Professorships and Lectureships

Distinguished Professorships

$3 million

Historically, endowed professorships at the University of Virginia provided a thin veneer of private support on top of a generally adequate state salary. Today, endowed professorships must function, as they do elsewhere, as a major source of financial support for distinguished faculty. Ordinarily, distinguished professorships will be held for the duration of the chair holder's tenure with the Law School. The income from endowments of this magnitude will make a substantial contribution to the chair holder's compensation and help the Law School attract and retain scholars and teachers of extraordinary worth.

Research Professorships

$1 million

Research professorships provide significant summer support for productive scholars. Ordinarily, research professorships are held for three-year terms. Appointments are not based on seniority but on scholarly productivity and contribution to the institution. Accordingly, research professorships provide a flexible and meaningful way to recognize, reward, and encourage faculty productivity.

Lectureships

$250,000 and $500,000

Endowed lectureships enable the Law School to attract distinguished scholars, practitioners, jurists, and executives to visit the Law School for intensive offerings of two or four weeks' duration. The ability to attract outside visitors is increasingly important. They are central to the Law School's ability to supplement the core curriculum with short courses in areas of emerging interest, notably including international law and intellectual property. In most cases, those who offer short courses are interested professionals rather than professional academics, and many are Law School alumni.