Private Gifts Help Recruit and Retain Distinguished Faculty

It is difficult to define the numerous roles of a faculty member at Iowa State University. More than just instructors, they are mentors, leading researchers and innovators in every sense of the word. That’s why ISU President Gregory L. Geoffroy has made faculty support a top priority for Iowa State. Just as there are many ways to measure a faculty member’s impact, there are several ways private support can bring prestige and honor to the university’s extraordinary faculty. Private support for faculty positions— like professorships, chairs and fellowships—attract the nation’s most outstanding scholars to Iowa State and keep them here for teaching and scientific research.

Murphy Professorship

A highly regarded accounting professor at Iowa State University, Sue Ravenscroft, was recently appointed to the Roger P. Murphy Professorship in Accounting. The first to hold this prestigious title, Ravenscroft was selected for this professorship in recognition of her commitment to excellence in undergraduate teaching. “On a very personal level, the appointment means my colleagues and supervisors appreciate what I do here at ISU,” says Ravenscroft. “Teaching is a way to share knowledge, but also a way to share a love of learning and approach to new information.”

Roger P. Murphy, an associate professor emeritus of accounting at Iowa State, established the endowed teaching professorship in accounting in his name in 1998 with a $300,000 deferred commitment, and has since added more than $800,000 in additional gifts through his estate. The professorship is being awarded as a result of more than 100 donors—most of them Murphy’s former students— who have supported this fund through their cash gifts.

“Roger Murphy is a special person to so many of our great faculty and former students,” says Labh Hira, dean of the College of Business. “We thank him for his generous gift. It is only fitting that a fine professor like Sue Ravenscroft be chosen as the first recipient of the Roger P. Murphy Professor in Accounting.”

This professorship will help Ravenscroft pursue her longtime goal of creating a new resource center that will benefit faculty and students for years to come. “My hope is that someday we’ll be able to support a center here in the College of Business for the purpose of helping students and faculty with communication skills. I’d like to see the center be a resource for all of a student’s academic needs,” says Ravenscroft. “I believe this professorship is a validation of our faculty interest in and concern for undergraduates and I know one of my greatest joys is helping students. I look forward to working with them and helping them everyday.”