Endowed Professorships

Professorships enable the Law School to attract, support, and retain the world-class scholars and teachers who are so essential to the school’s mission and reputation. Intense competition for leading scholars has made attracting and retaining the strongest faculty more challenging and more expensive than ever.

Distinguished Professorships:
$5 million

Distinguished professorships recognize senior leading faculty and are typically held for the duration of the chairholder’s tenure. The income from endowment helps attract, reward, and retain preeminent teachers and scholars.

Research Professorships:
$2 million

Research professorships provide a flexible and meaningful way to reward emerging scholars and encourage faculty productivity. They provide significant summer and research support and are usually held for three-year terms. Appointments are based on scholarly distinction and contributions to the institution.

Bicentennial Professorships:

For a limited time, the University will provide  matching funds for professorships created at the Law School enabling donors to magnify their impact. For more information contact Jason Wu Trujillo, Chief Development Officer at @email.

Cynthia Nicoletti

“I am writing to express my gratitude to you for endowing the Class of 1966 Research Professorship in Law, which has supported my work at the University of Virginia School of Law. It is an honor to be a member of the UVA community and to hold this this chair. My first book, Secession on Trial: The Treason Prosecution of Jefferson Davis, won the Cromwell Prize for the best first book in American legal history at the annual meeting of the American Society for Legal History.

“I am now at work on a new book that focuses on another aspect of the legal history of the Civil War. This project has brought me back to archival research, at the National Archives and in Massachusetts and North and South Carolina. Holding the Class of 1966 Research Professorship has allowed me the time and resources to undertake this necessary travel.

“I am fortunate to be a part of the scholarly community at UVA and to teach so many enormously talented law students. It is truly a privilege to teach at a place that is as intellectually vibrant and so warm-hearted as UVA. The Law School would not be the esteemed institution that it is today without the support of donors like you. Thank you for supporting my research and for everything you do to support UVA Law.”

PROFESSOR CYNTHIA NICOLETTI