Endowed Scholarships and Chairs

Endowed Scholarships: The School of Engineering has no higher priority than scholarship support. Scholarships attract the brightest young minds to Vanderbilt. Here they receive a superb engineering education and enrich the intellectual community of their peers. The cost of attending a private university is beyond the reach of a growing number of students. Scholarships are needed to remove the barrier of high tuition for the 43 percent of engineering students who have financial need.                                     

Endowed Chairs: Distinguished faculty are a valuable resource to the School of Engineering because they:

• Excel in teaching and research
• Raise the bar for other members of the faculty
• Attract outstanding graduate students
• Bring in financial resources
• Advance the reputation of the school

The competition for recruiting and retaining such faculty grows more heated by the year. One of the most effective tools in this competition is the ability to offer an endowed, named chair.

The number of endowed chairs is far greater at our peer universities. For example Duke engineering has 16 and the engineering program at Washington University has 31. Vanderbilt engineering has five.  Since most distinguished educators and researchers have their pick of the top institutions, this lack of endowed chairs puts us at a competitive disadvantage when seeking to recruit and retain extraordinary faculty.

If you’d like to know more about endowed scholarships or chairs, please contact
Lydia Park by e-mail or by calling 615/322-4934.