GROWING THE ENDOWMENT FOR DISTINCTION

A defining characteristic of an Oxy education is the powerful bond that our students form with their professors as teachers, mentors, and advisers. That’s why raising funds to support faculty has been a core priority of The Campaign For Good. We have made enormous progress, raising nearly $38.5 million in the past six years. Those funds have endowed professorships in the arts, humanities, and sciences, and they will fuel the continued evolution of our curriculum. Now we must build on that momentum, particularly because nearly one-third of Oxy’s senior faculty will retire in the next decade. The need to invest in the next generation of outstanding Oxy faculty members — the researchers and scholars who will shape the curriculum and our institution for decades to come — is urgent. Expanding the number of endowed professorships will make the College more attractive to promising young professors and support them throughout their tenure at Oxy.

EMPOWERING OXY’S FACULTY

A recent gift from Michael G. Gibby ’68 and Barbara J. Gibby ’68 exemplifies the impact that endowed gifts can have for Oxy faculty members and their academic departments.

The Gibbys marked the occasion of their 50th reunion by generously funding an endowed professorship. Inspired by the quality of the education they had received as students — particularly in the sciences and math — the couple included a wonderful, if unusual, stipulation for their gift. While most endowed faculty chairs are meant to be used in one academic discipline, the Gibbys decided that funds from their gift could be used to support the work of a professor who has achieved distinction in any one of a range of fields across the sciences, biology, chemistry, computer science, and mathematics.

As Barbara Gibby puts it: “We wanted to do something where it really makes a difference.”

The following year, Margi Rusmore, an internationally recognized structural geologist, was chosen for the honor of serving as Oxy’s first Michael G. Gibby ’68 and Barbara J. Gibby ’68 Professor of Science. Rusmore, a member of the Oxy faculty since 1985, studies the evolution and growth of continental margins with a focus on the mountain ranges of western North America. She says endowed chairs like hers are a demonstration of the supportive environment that Oxy provides for faculty, which in turn inspires professors to build upon Oxy’s “culture of caring about our students.”

The Gibby Chair is one of just five endowed professorships in the sciences at Oxy, and the Gibbys have made clear their wish to inspire fellow Oxy supporters. Says Mike Gibby, “We are hoping others will go and do likewise.”

Faculty are the heart and soul of our institution, and when we have donors who support that notion, it really does make a difference. Their generosity allows us to fund the size and quality of the faculty we need. In the same way that gifts that enhance our physical buildings enhance the College’s durability and excellence, endowed professorships create a foundation for the College and move Oxy forward for the future.”

A Measure Of Trust

To Gloria Duffy ’75, The Campaign For Good is much more than the name of Occidental’s current fundraising initiative.

“The phrase ‘For Good,’” she observes, “is a very active statement about what a liberal arts education can do, and about Oxy’s particular approach. Oxy educates young people and helps them see how they can contribute to the improvement of society — how their knowledge, education, and skills can be focused and turned toward the common good.”

That belief, along with Duffy’s strong conviction that Oxy was critical in preparing her for her own long career in international diplomacy, nonprofit management, and business, are among the reasons she has been such a generous supporter of the College.

“I’m so happy to give back, and I want to assist students who want to make a positive difference,” she says. “I know Oxy will expose them to a variety of skills and a range of fields that will help them think broadly and discover how they can be agents for good change in our society.”

Much of Duffy’s philanthropic support has gone to augment endowed funds, building resources that Oxy leadership can devote to the College’s greatest needs. “I’m happy to have decisions about where my funds are most needed on an annual basis in the hands of the president and administration,” she explains. “They’re the best judges of where the need is greatest at any given point of time.”

That measure of trust in Oxy’s leadership has only been enhanced by Duffy’s perspective as a longtime member of the Oxy Board of Trustees. “Harry Elam is doing a wonderful job as president, and Oxy has a tradition of selecting very capable leaders who will responsibly steward its resources and assets,” she says. “So I’m very confident in Oxy’s ability to manage and steward resources well.”

Trustee Anne Cannon ’74, co-chair of The Campaign For Good, is Oxy’s largest living individual donor. Her latest contribution was a multimillion-dollar estate gift that will establish an unrestricted endowment to help fund the College’s greatest needs. “Quite honestly, I am blown away by what Oxy alumni contribute to the world,” Cannon said. “I just want to do my part to help ensure Oxy’s ability to continue to provide an outstanding liberal arts education to future generations.”

At the time, Steve Rountree ’71, past chair of the Board of Trustees, noted the importance of Cannon’s gift being unrestricted: “Anne’s giving will have a sustained and positive impact on Oxy’s commitment to academic excellence, providing essential and flexible funding for innovative programs and curricular offerings, thereby strengthening our ability to recruit and retain talented students and faculty.”