For many in academe, endowed chairs are akin to a quality rating. For faculty considering whether to take a position, or even apply to one, at Juniata or another college, the existence of named chairs is an indicator of support and academic quality. The titles of endowed chairs often function as aspirational positions. For many faculty, proof they have “arrived” is earning not only the top rank for a faculty member—full professor—but also earning a position that is endowed, showing its significant visibility and value to the College.

Endowed chairs provide flexibility to the College itself. Delivering personalized, high quality, relationship-centered educational experiences for which Juniata is known and acclaimed involves people who are good, committed, and adaptive teachers and scholars. Endowed chairs and professorships help cover provide permanent funding that does not come from the operating budget. Doing so provides the College flexibility as we invest in evolving needs— whether facilities or curriculum or enhancing experiential learning opportunities.

As educational methods evolve and change, Juniata must have the flexibility to change with them, as we have done for a long time. Ensuring endowed funding for our most significant investment in quality, the faculty, helps us direct resources to innovation as needed without affecting our most vital asset.

“Courage to Act” calls attention and priority to diversifying our campus community from a demographic standpoint while also calling for diversity of thought and expression at Juniata. As the direct mentors, advisors, and teachers to our students, our faculty are the faces and thinkers to whom our students will look as examples of Juniata’s commitment. Right now, while strong in many ways, our faculty does not reflect the range of backgrounds from which our students come when they arrive on campus.

Practically speaking, the demographic characteristics of the United States are changing and growing diverse faster than are the faculty on the great majority of college campuses. Students and families consider diversity seriously when choosing a college, and those institutions that show a greater commitment than we do will have an advantage.

Giving can help us hire to diversify our faculty. Diversity is key to ensuring new ideas make it into our classes and discussions, and that we remain an appealing option not just because of our academic strengths but because we are committed to a campus that is more representative of the complicated world into which our students will graduate.

As noted, faculty strength provides students the mentors committed to their success and to the highly effective personalized focus that has yielded excellent results for decades. Supporting faculty work through strong learning infrastructure is also necessary to student success. Just as every successful business invests in the professional development of its people, so too must a college ensure not only that professors have the means to maintain expertise in their subjects, but to grow, too, with their profession as teachers.

Juniata will develop a Center for Undergraduate Research and a Center for Service Learning. More than 90 percent of Juniata students graduate having taken part in internships, service learning (the integration of meaningful community service with instruction and reflection), mentored research, study away and international experiences, student teaching, and sustained creative projects.

The project will fund existing staff and some involved faculty to ensure students have an array of opportunities. As plans solidify for a nexus for student learning services and guidance in Beeghly Library, we envision the centers described here as being at the core of intellectual life at Juniata.