The Tom W. Hutchens Endowed Professorship

Established: October 20, 1999

Current Professor: Christopher A. Craig, PhD, College of Business, Area in Entrepreneurship/Partnership

As the first named professorship in the College of Business, this endowment will provide a small salary stipend and supplemental program support for an individual with both national and international teaching experience and a good publishing record to bring scholarly recognition to Murray State in general and to the AACSB – accredited College of Business in particular. 

The holder of the Tom W. Hutchens Professorship will be expected to help enhance Murray State University’s reputation in intellectual contributions.  This will be accomplished by developing a solid record of peer-reviewed publications, publishing in reputable journals and successful membership on the editorial boards of leading national and international journals and involvement in the maintenance of AACSB – International accreditation.

As part of an already well established foundation and reputation for high quality instruction and research in the College of Business, the Tom W. Hutchens Professor is expected to assist in student recruitment and retention via the Road Scholars and Residential College programs at Murray State University, accreditation efforts, and direct contact with alumni and friends of the College.

Dr. Hugh L. and Hontas K. Houston Professorship

Established: June 15, 2000
Current Professor: Gary ZeRuth, PhD, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, Area in the Bio-Medical Program

The purpose of this professorship is to support the Bio-medical program at Murray State University. This position will be in the Department of Biological Sciences of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology. 

The professorship was vacant during 2008-09. The endowment threshold has not been attained. The current plan is to fill the position as soon as the earnings from the endowment reach a level sufficient to attract a senior ranking, nationally recognized bio-medical professor.

The presence of a prominent bio-medical researcher will further enhance the high-quality bio-medical program at Murray State University. This nationally recognized faculty member will assist the bio-medical faculty of Murray State’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute in such activities as instruction, advising, curriculum development, research and securing external funding. Such funding will be used for equipment purchases, faculty release time, conference travel, student recruitment, support of student research and the establishment of seminars and events beneficial to pre-medicine students and faculty.

The addition of a prominent bio-medical faculty member will enable greater recruitment, retention and graduate placement of pre-med students. Recruiting, retaining and matriculating bright students will promote program loyalty and, often, a return to practice in Kentucky.

David and Ashley Dill Distinguished Professorship

Current Professor: Samer Khalil, PhD, CVA, College of Business, Area in Accounting

A generous gift of $1 million from David and Ashley Dill, both graduates of Murray State University, has funded the Department of Accounting’s first and only Distinguished Professor of Accounting. The department has also received $250,000 of state matching funds. The faculty initiated a search for a distinguished teacher and scholar to fill the position.

The Center for Banking and Finance

Established: October 16, 1996
Current Director: Stephen Lacewell, PhD, College of Business, Area in Banking and Finance

The Center for Banking and Finance at Murray State University was created through the generous donations of several area banks. As Murray is located in a rural area, bankers were frustrated at having to devote considerable time and cost having managers and employees travel to larger metropolitan areas such as Louisville and St. Louis for training. The original objective of the Center was to provide employee and management training, as well as other educational opportunities, for bankers located within the University’s service area. This proves to be a unique challenge due to the fact that banking in rural areas is much different than banking in urban areas. This is primarily due to two reasons. First, the customer base in rural areas tends to be less educated regarding financial issues than those in urban areas. Employment is rural areas tend to focus on agriculture, small and medium-size manufacturing facilities, and small businesses. Thus, to succeed as a financial services provider one must educate consumers as to the various financial services and products that will help them succeed in their personal and professional financial endeavors. Second, bank employees in rural areas tend to be less trained and educated. Thus, easy access to job-specific training as well as courses in finance, accounting, economics, etc. is critical to developing and maintaining efficient bank employees. The Center for Banking and Finance has been active in several key areas regarding bank training, education, and small business development.

The endowment for the Center for Banking and Finance, located in the Department of Economics and Finance in the College of Business and Public Affairs, will provide funding for the following:

• An endowed professorship to supply a salary supplement and related expenses such as travel and other professional expenses for the Center Director/Endowed Professor.
• Scholarships and other expenses such as the bank simulation game, financial data bases, etc., for students majoring in banking and finance.
• Speakers on current financial topics, training for financial professionals and/or sponsoring financial educational classes in conjunction with the Kentucky Bankers Association.
• Increasing the number of internships and co-op opportunities for Murray State students as the Center strives to develop stronger relationships between Murray State and financial institutions.

The Center continues its search for a major private donor to turn this into a named and endowed professorship.

Ashland, Inc. Endowed Professorship in Education

Established: December 3, 1999
Current Professor: Vacant, College of Education and Human Services, Area in Elementary Science and STEM Education

The purpose of this endowment is to establish an endowed professorship in the College of Education and Human Services. The professorship is designed to enhance collaboration with the public schools in elementary, middle, and/or high school education.

The College of Education and Human Services is using the endowed professorship funds to create a distinguished practitioner/lecturer position to augment and support the salary and activities needed to attract qualified African American candidates from the public schools. If the candidate does not hold a terminal degree, the funds may be used to support a person in pursuit of such a degree, supporting the University’s desire to enhance the number of minority faculty on campus.

The primary focus of the professorship is to facilitate University faculty and public school teachers and administrators in exploring collaborative partnerships and relationships to enhance teacher-training quality. Current demands and legislation such as No Child Left Behind underscore the need for such collaboration. With this in mind, the recipient of the Ashland, Inc. Endowed Professorship in Education will be responsible for participating in the planning and development of programs which will afford teacher education candidates experiences in programs demonstrating current best practices at both the University and public school levels.

Rayburn and Nancy Spann Watkins Endowed Visiting Professorship

Established: October 4, 1999
Current Professor: Vacant, College of Humanities and Fine Arts, Area in Creative Writing

The purpose of this endowment is to establish an Endowed Visiting Professorship in Creative Writing to be housed in the Department of English and Philosophy in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. The position is competitive and is designed to bring faculty of national scholarly recognition to Murray State University. The ideal candidate will hold an MFA or equivalent degree and will be an emerging, published and nationally respected author, poet or playwright who has teaching experience. 

The Nancy and Rayburn Watkins Endowed Visiting Professorship will be used to augment and support the department’s Creative Writing Program. Currently, the university provides excellent support for the program through the support of a reading series and the Jesse Stuart Writer’s Symposium. The endowment interest will support graduate student research and development for our new low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program. 

The Nancy and Rayburn Watkins Endowed Visiting Professor will be an active author, poet, or playwright whose creative works will be broadly disseminated through publications, lecture, and workshops.

Richard M. and Jane H. Hutson Endowment for Excellence in Archaeology

Established: May 6, 2003
Current Professor: Vacant, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, Area in Archaeology

The purpose of this endowment is to support the Archaeology Program at Murray State University by using the interest earnings from this fund to manage and protect the Richard M. Hutson, M.D. Archaeological Collection and to support the Archaeological Program, including but not limited to expenses associated with laboratory, student research, training and curation. Awards from this fund shall be determined by the Director of the Archaeological Program in conjunction with the Chair of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

A program plan is presently being developed to enhance the recruitment, retention, and graduate placement of archaeology students using these resources (as funds become available). This plan should help matriculate bright Kentucky undergraduates interested in careers in archaeology and hopefully retain this intellectual capital to help “grow” Kentucky into the future. 

The endowed threshold has not been attained. The endowed chair will be filled when earnings from the endowment reach a level sufficient to attract an appropriate candidate.