Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton has announced a broad range of University programs slated to receive support from the recent endowment gift of $100 million from the Danforth Foundation -- programs that will serve the University and the region.
The humanities, sciences, the social sciences, undergraduate life, engineering and the University's links with community organizations all will benefit from an allocation of income from these endowment funds.
When the gift was announced Nov. 14, 1997, Wrighton said it would have a "transforming effect" on the University, and he pledged that the University would use it in ways that "will make the foundation and the people of St. Louis proud." He added: "These are programs that fit well with the new focus of the Danforth Foundation: to build strength in the St. Louis region. I believe they will bring great benefit to St. Louis, to the bi-state region and to society."
The gift will endow programs in the humanities, biology and biomedical sciences, social sciences and social work, and the enhancement of the undergraduate experience, both inside and outside the classroom.
The endowment gift's allocations, announced at the University Management Team meeting in December, include:
¥ $10 million in endowment for the American Cultural Studies program in Arts and Sciences;
¥ $5 million in endowment for humanities professorships in Arts and Sciences;
¥ $3 million in endowment to the John B. Ervin Scholars Program for minority recruitment;
¥ $2 million in endowment for a distinguished service professorship;
¥ $10 million in endowment both for social sciences in Arts and Sciences and for the George Warren Brown School of Social Work;
¥ $30 million in endowment for basic sciences in the School of Medicine;
¥ $15 million in endowment for a plant science initiative in the Department of Biology in Arts and Sciences;
¥ $5 million in endowment for the Department of Chemistry in Arts and Sciences;
¥ $5 million in endowment for the new Department of Biomedical Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science;
¥ $15 million in endowment for the development of a university center to provide, in Wrighton's words, an "area of enhanced community life." Plans for a university center are still in the conceptual stage.
Foundation Board Chair John C. Danforth, in announcing the gift, stressed the foundation's commitment to the St. Louis region. "It is our belief at the Danforth Foundation that it is vital for the future of St. Louis to have a world-ranked research and teaching university of the absolute highest quality," he said. "We are pleased with our past investments in the University and believe that our gift will be well utilized by the University in its service to St. Louis, our region and greater society."
The $100 million gift is a five-year pledge from the foundation, which is headquartered in St. Louis. William H. and Adda B. Danforth and their daughter and son, Dorothy Danforth Compton and Donald Danforth, established the foundation in 1927. John C. Danforth and University Board of Trustees Chairman William H. Danforth are Donald Danforth's sons.
"This foundation gift," Danforth Foundation President Bruce J. Anderson said, "is intended to help continue the tradition of excellence long demonstrated by Washington University, in keeping with the foundation's recent change of focus and renewed commitment to the St. Louis region. We at the foundation look forward to Washington University's continued contribution to St. Louis through its important research, teaching and service activities for years to come."
Washington University brings to St. Louis each year more than 2,000 bright and able people of all ages who add greatly to the energy and intellectual and scientific strength of the region, Wrighton noted. More than 31,000 alumni live and work in the St. Louis area, many of whom have become leaders in business, education, the professions and the arts. Nearly 40 percent of St. Louis' 5,900 physicians, for instance, were educated at the Washington University Medical Center.
The University attracts some of the world's most talented individuals to serve on its faculty, enriching the intellectual, professional and cultural life of the community. All 21 of the Nobel laureates who have ties to St. Louis have been associated with Washington University, and the same is true for all but one of the nine St. Louisans who have won Pulitzer Prizes for literature.
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