By Steve Gilliam , University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5371
Posted: 11-15-07
GREENSBORO, NC -Although it’s been a decade since he was president of the University of North Carolina, C.D. Spangler Jr. is still the system’s biggest supporter. And even though he’s decades removed from grade school, he fondly remembers his fourth grade teacher.
Spangler, one of the state’s most successful businessmen, is endowing a distinguished professorship at UNCG in honor of his fourth grade teacher, Helena Gabriel Houston, a 1927 graduate of the North Carolina College for Women (now UNC).
The Helena G. Houston Professorship in Science Education is being created through a pair of matching fund initiatives started this year by the C.D. Spangler Foundation. The programs will allow UNCG and each of the other 15 University of North Carolina (news release) campuses to create distinguished professorships each year over the next five years, for a total of 96 new distinguished professorships.
Spangler has said that Houston, who died in 2002, was one of the best teachers he ever had, and he wanted the first professorship at UNCG to carry her name. UNCG has already received $667,000 for the endowment, and will apply for $333,000 in matching funds from the state’s N.C. Distinguished Professorship Endowment Trust Fund. When the check arrived at UNCG, Chancellor Patricia A. Sullivan received a note from Spangler that he wanted UNCG’s first professorship to be named for his teacher.
“This is an amazing gift to the university system, and UNCG will benefit tremendously from it,” said Chancellor Sullivan. “President Spangler has said that Mrs. Houston was an excellent teacher who inspired him as a student. This new professorship and the opportunity to create five others will allow us to recruit and retain top faculty in critical needs areas in the state.”
Together, the Spangler Foundation programs will make $26.9 million available to support the creation of up to 96 endowed professorships at all 16 UNC campuses. All of the new professorships must be in the high-need fields of teacher education, engineering, nursing, and the traditional arts and sciences.
The first professorships are free system-wide this year. The five additional professorships for UNCG and the other campuses will require that the institutions raise matching funds.
To endow the additional distinguished professorships, UNCG’s challenge will be to raise $417,000 for each – or $2.1 million. That goal can be met through the Students First Campaign, which has raised more than $85 million toward its $100 million goal.
“One of the Students First Campaign’s priorities is the creation of endowed professorships so that our students can learn from the brightest faculty, and the Spangler Foundation is helping to make it possible,” said Dr. Patricia W. Stewart, vice chancellor for advancement. “This is a wonderful opportunity for UNCG’s friends and supporters who have considered creating a distinguished professorship as a gift to the university.”
A successful Charlotte businessman and passionate advocate for public education, C. D. Spangler Jr. served as UNC President from 1986 to 1997. Previously, he and his family foundation have made donations to endow or complete 37 distinguished professorships across the University.
Years ago, the young Spangler, sat in her fourth grade in Dilworth Elementary School in Charlotte. He remembered learning the location of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers on the big pull-down maps, and reading his orange-covered geography book. “I can remember where I sat in her classroom and so could she,” Spangler said. “She remembered the other students in the class, too. She did wonderful work in her classroom for 40 years. I had several strong teachers at Dilworth, but Miss Gabriel was particularly strong. She was the best.”
This year, the Spangler Foundation has funded $6.9 million, the full amount of private funding required to endow one distinguished professorship on every UNC campus. This will establish million-dollar professorships at seven larger campuses, which include UNCG; along with $500,000 endowments for professorships at UNC’s seven focused-growth campuses.
Beginning in 2008, the Foundation will invest up to $20 million over five years, or $250,000 annually to help each campus qualify for one additional endowed chair. This has the potential to add 80 more professorships systemwide.
