Endowment
Endowment
Baker’s endowment provides permanent funding for our top priorities: making a college education affordable and recruiting and retaining highly qualified faculty and staff across the university. Donors to the endowment trust that their gift will be managed wisely and grow in value. Gifts to the endowment allow donors to give back in a way that will sustain the university for generations to come.
Endowed Scholarships
Endowed scholarships are critical because they provide permanent funding for programs on which students can count—year after year.
All endowed scholarship funds are invested in the Baker University endowment, and a percentage, which is set annually by the Baker University Board of Trustees, is used to award scholarships to deserving students. Each scholarship fund has its own award criteria that was established by the fund administrators when the original gift was received by the university. A gift of an endowed scholarship enables a donor’s impact to last well into the future, and it enables the university to attract and retain generations of high-achieving and deserving students.
A minimum of $10,000 is required to create an endowed scholarship.
A gift from the Swogger Foundation, honoring Glenn Swogger Sr., who graduated from Baker in 1915, established the Swogger Foundation Humanities Professorship and the Primary Texts Endowment Fund to help Baker students develop their critical analysis skills and enhance Baker’s liberal arts foundation.
“The Swogger family’s gift has allowed the faculty to dream big,” said Dr. Joanne Janssen, associate professor of English and Swogger Chair of Primary Texts. “Often, as professors, we must downsize our big ideas to fit available time and resources. This gift, however, allows us to pursue unique educational experiences for students. Endowed professorships create lasting legacies for our generous donors, support innovation programming, and open up pathways for new possibilities in teaching and learning.”
Endowed Professorships
Endowing a professorship encourages stimulating teaching, innovative techniques, and thoughtful mentoring.
Professors at Baker University know their students and are personally committed to their success from the moment they step into their classroom. Not only does our faculty motivate students inside the classroom, but they also engage them as partners and colleagues in research and discovery.
Competition is intense for the best faculty, particularly at a private liberal arts university like Baker. Endowed professorships advance the university by encouraging excellence in teaching and providing significant opportunities for our faculty members. Gifts for endowed professorships enable the university to hire the best and the brightest faculty members—a necessity for Baker to remain competitive. Endowed professorships also help fund collaborative efforts that promote student participation and interdisciplinary teamwork.
A minimum of $500,000 is required to create an endowed professorship.
To learn more about establishing an endowed scholarship or professorship or making a donation to an existing fund, please contact the Office of Development at 800.726.1554.