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Investing in the Best and the Brightest

At the heart of any great institution are the people whose vision and talent define it.  At the School of Education, our ability to maintain our prominence and to achieve our goal of promoting meaningful educational reform requires that we recruit and retain highly respected, rigorous researchers who are also committed to working on practical problems related to education. In addition, attracting the most promising prospective teachers to our teacher training program requires a robust financial aid program.

PROFESSORSHIPS
Endowed professorships are critical to Stanford’s ability both to attract and retain top faculty. They are the highest honor the university can bestow upon current faculty who have made extraordinary contributions to research and teaching. They also enable us to offer competitive compensation packages in recruiting scholars who are in high demand around the country and the world.

Just as the roster of endowed chair holders stands as an honor roll of the most distinguished faculty members in any generation, the roster of professorship donors is an elite group of Stanford’s most farsighted and generous friends who have made enduring contributions to the university’s excellence and independence. Donors may establish professorships in their own names or in the names of others whom they wish to honor, and the chairs will exist in perpetuity. Income from the endowed gifts pay the faculty members’ salaries and associated costs. In many cases, the income also defrays expenses related to the faculty members’ work, such as library, staff support, travel, and other research-related expenses.

To maintain a prominent faculty, funds are needed to endow five new faculty chairs, which would increase the number of chairs from 8 to 13. High priority fields include international education, science and math education, education of children with special needs, youth development in community contexts, and technology and education.

FELLOWSHIPS
The university’s mission of excellence in teaching, learning, and research is fully embodied in its graduate students. As with undergraduate students, Stanford administers a need-blind admission policy for graduate students. The primary criteria for admission are superior academic achievement and a potential to contribute to the academic and professional communities and to society as a whole. The competition is intense, and only the top candidates in each school and department are admitted.  Once admitted, students are offered financial support that is both merit- and need-based, and that usually comprises a combination of fellowships, loans, and teaching or research assistantships. Fellowships are key to our ability to offer the graduate support needed to continue attracting the most talented graduate students.

The School of Education seeks endowed and expendable fellowships, which help to
offset tuition costs, support research assistantships, and assist with loan forgiveness.

You can choose to make a gift to The Stanford Challenge at the School of Education through any of the ways described below. Gifts of every size are welcome and appreciated.

ENDOWED FUNDS
A gift of endowment is a permanent investment in the school, our students, and our faculty. The income from an endowment provides us with an ongoing source of funding that grows over time; as the invested principal increases, so does the annual payout.  An endowed fund—most often for a professorship or fellowship—can recognize the donor or someone the donor wishes to honor in perpetuity and provides Stanford with a continuing source of support.

TERM ENDOWMENT
Term endowment funds are spent over a specific period of time during which they are invested with the university’s endowment to take advantage of potentially higher investment returns. These gifts recognize that a valuable set of activities may not exist in perpetuity, but that a significant investment for a period of time can help them grow and achieve a measure of stability.

EXPENDABLE FUNDS
Gifts to expendable funds are spent as they come in and may be made in support of specific programs, research, or people of the donor’s choosing.

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ANNUAL FUND
To help underwrite our core programs and provide the school with flexible funds to respond to new needs, annual giving support, regardless of size, is essential to the school’s future.

PLANNED GIVING
Through careful planning, a donor may be able to make a sizable contribution to the school through a bequest or living trust; by designating Stanford as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, IRA or other retirement plan; or by means of a “life income gift” that can provide a donor with considerable tax savings currently as well as an income for life.