August 10, 1999
"I can think of several cases where very productive professors would be somewhere else today if not for the salary supplement offered by a professorship," said Carl Locke, dean of engineering.
Now a new professorship will enable the school to offer as many as three faculty members renewable, one-year salary and research packages competitive with those offered by peer institutions. Chancellor Robert Hemenway announced today that a distinguished professorship has been created in the School of Engineering with a gift of $1 million from a foundation funded by a distinguished alumnus of the school and his wife.
The Spahr Foundation, created by Charles E. and Mary Jane Spahr of Shaker Heights, Ohio, has made the pledge to the Kansas University Endowment Association to establish the Charles E. and Mary Jane Spahr Distinguished Professorship in Engineering. Charles Spahr, retired chairman and chief executive officer of Standard Oil (Ohio), graduated from KU in 1934 with an engineering degree. Mary Jane Spahr attended KU in 1938.
The Charles E. and Mary Jane Spahr Distinguished Professorship can support from one to three professors. The first three professors have already been chosen. They are Stanley Rolfe, Learned Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering; Ray Taghavi, associate professor of aerospace engineering; and Joseph Evans, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science.
The Spahr professors are chosen by the dean of engineering with the approval of the chancellor. Other distinguished professors are chosen by deans and faculty. All receive a stipend in addition to their state-paid salary. Many professorships also offer financial resources for research, which are often used for travel, to purchase equipment or to hire research assistants.
Don W. Green, Deane E. Ackers Distinguished Professor in chemical and petroleum engineering, said the salary supplement provided by a professorship helps recruit and retain high quality faculty, while also granting recognition and prestige.
"It's a definite advantage to have these professorships," he said. "The best universities do."
Green's position has furthered his research in reservoir management in Kansas and enhanced oil recovery processes.
The 12 distinguished professors who are currently on the engineering faculty are important to the school's quest for excellence, Locke said. He values their opinions so much that he meets with them as a group each semester to discuss problems and opportunities facing the school.
Many of the distinguished professors have been recognized as leaders in the engineering profession. For example, Rolfe, one of the newly named Spahr professors, was elected to membership in the prestigious National Academy of Engineering.
Distinguished professors also excel in teaching, Locke said. They frequently win teaching awards within the engineering school as well as university honors. Honored professors include Don Green, who won the universitywide HOPE teaching award in 1987, which is determined by a vote of the entire senior class.
A longtime supporter of the School of Engineering, Charles Spahr chaired the committee that raised funds for the Spahr Engineering Library, which was completed in 1984. He and his wife have provided support for the library and created a trust to support an acquisition fund for the library. He also is a patron of the Friends of the KU Library. Another trust supports scholarships for students in engineering and the sciences.
Through the years, the Spahrs have contributed to other areas of the university as well. Charles Spahr chaired the steering committee of the 1983-85 scientific equipment fund drive, which netted more than $2.5 million. An additional $1 million gift from the Spahrs in 1988 helped expand the library and augmented two engineering fellowships the couple had previously established with KU Endowment.
In addition, they donated funds for the Bruckmiller Room at the Adams Alumni Center, which is named in honor of Mary Jane's parents, Alice Blair and Frederick W. Bruckmiller, who both graduated from KU.
During his career with Standard Oil, Spahr was instrumental in opening the Alaskan North Slope oil reserves to the United States and constructing the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. In 1952, he directed the U.S. Supply and Transportation Division of the Petroleum Administration for Defense. In 1965, Vice President Hubert Humphrey appointed Spahr chairman of the Plans for Progress Advisory Council. He was chairman of the American Petroleum Institute from 1975 to 1977 and in 1980 earned the Institute's Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement. Following his retirement from Standard Oil in 1977, Spahr was a consultant in Cleveland. He has since retired from consulting.
Charles Spahr is a lifetime honorary member of KU's School of Engineering Advisory Board, and a trustee of KU Endowment. He has received the university's two highest honors: the Distinguished Service Citation for service to humanity and the Fred Ellsworth Medallion for service to KU. He also received the Distinguished Engineering Service Award from the School of Engineering.
At KU, the Spahrs are life members of the School of Engineering Deans Club; the Chancellors Club, KU's major donor organization; members of the Mount Oread Society, which honors donors of $1 million or more; and members of the Elizabeth Watkins Society, which honors donors of planned gifts. The couple has five children and 11 grandchildren.
The new endowment will be administered by the KU Endowment Association, an independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fund-raising and fund-management foundation for the University of Kansas. Founded in 1891, the KU Endowment Association is the oldest foundation of its type at a public university in the United States and one of the largest.
Story by Val Renault