Annual Report 2008-09
KU’s status as an outstanding public research university and a first-rate teaching institution rests mainly on the shoulders of the faculty, now more than 2,300 strong. Their visionary research pushes back the horizons of our knowledge; their inspired teaching reveals those horizons to students.
In FY09, KU Endowment provided $22.7 million in direct support to faculty, a 6 percent increase over the previous year. According to the KU Budget Summary, we supplied more than 86 percent of total funding for KU’s cadre of distinguished professors, including 145 professors who hold named, endowed positions. In addition to salaries, private gifts support awards, professional travel and continuing education.
In FY09, donors gave more than $5.1 million to create three new professorships, two at the KU Medical Center and one in Lawrence. Many endowed professorships qualify for additional salary enhancement from the Kansas Partnership for Faculty of Distinction Program. Since the state established this program in 2000, donors have enabled the university to receive more than $8.2 million in supplemental state support for KU faculty. In FY09, the program provided $1.4 million, supporting 29 positions in Lawrence and 30 at the KU Medical Center.
