By Mary Jester
Asst. Campus Editor

When Steven Beering became president in 1983, there were approximately 10 designated professorships; now there are 68.

Of these designated professorships, some have endowments or gifts and some do not.

Endowment money is the interest on an invested amount of donated money, whereas a gift is an amount of money given on a regular basis.

According to the Financial Report from Accounting Services, the value associated with endowments and similar funds was $41,896,044 as of June 1982, and was $644,870,631 as of June 1999, an increase of $602,974,587 since Beering took office.

Endowment money is usually donated by alumni, often in honor of someone, and stipulations are made about how the money is to be used.

Endowments support professors or graduate students and can be used as scholarships for students. The name of the person who is honored by the endowment or of the company donating the money is used as the title for the endowed professorship.

One endowed professor, Arnold Cooper, the Louis A. Weil, Jr. professor of management, said, "It is a visible recognition of one's contributions … acknowledging what people have done."

Gordon Chavers, general counsel for University development office, said the minimum to create an endowment is $20,000. Chavers described a campaign called the Vision 21 campaign as a major fundraising effort. Beering started this campaign when he came to Purdue to increase endowment funding.

Endowments can be used as a source to fund a professor's revenue.

Cooper said endowed chairs have varying amounts of money to support them, and the money is used in different ways.

"At Krannert, the money goes into the general funds of the school. The money is not earmarked for specific purposes," said Cooper. Each endowment at Purdue is different because the donor has different requests for how the money is to be used.

Cooper said at other universities, having an endowed professorship may have a different meaning. At another school, professors might have a lighter teaching load and the money could support other activities for them such as travel or research.