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GREENSBORO — An endowed professorship will honor former UNCG Chancellor Patricia Sullivan.

Several donors contributed or pledged $417,000 for an endowment toward the Patricia A. Sullivan Distinguished Professorship in the Sciences.

UNCG will apply for matching funds — $250,000 from the C.D. Spangler Foundation and $333,000 from the N.C. Distinguished Professorship Endowment Trust Fund — for a total endowment of $1 million. The endowment is part of the Students First Campaign, which ends June 30.

Sullivan, a biologist, became chancellor at UNCG in 1995 and served for almost 14 years before retiring last year. During her tenure, Sullivan concentrated on making UNCG a research institution and raising the status of its science programs.

“This is such an important professorship because it recognizes Pat’s great work at the university,” said UNCG Chancellor Linda Brady. “She has always been very interested in the role of women in science and recognized that the best way to get students involved in the laboratory — involved in the work — was to bring them into the process as students at a research institution.”

Brady said endowed professorships are important in rough economic times, when resources become scarce, but should be the goal at research institutions whatever the economic forecast.

“Even when the economy is strong, endowed professorships help to recruit and retain the best faculty,” Brady said. “Faculty want to know that there is that commitment, those resources available. That’s why if you look at the goals of most research institutions, you’ll usually find endowed professorships among them.”

Two years ago, the Spangler Foundation announced it would make $26.9 million available to create up to 96 endowed professorships — or six at each of the 16 UNC system campuses.

In the first year, the Spangler Foundation provided full private funding for the first 16 new professorships, one at each campus.

UNCG needs to raise $417,000 for each of the remaining five distinguished professorships, or $2.1 million, to be matched by the state and the Spangler Foundation.

The Students First Campaign has concentrated on endowing professorships and has raised more than $111.6 million in gifts and pledges through the end of May.

For more information or to donate, call the UNCG Campaign Office at 334-5677 or visit the campaign Web site at donate.uncg.edu.

Contact Joe Killian at 373-7023 or joe.killian@news-record.com