Invest in Faculty

Attracting and retaining the best faculty members is as important as bringing the right students to Chapel Hill. In addition to their excellence in the classroom, these talented faculty members work to create knowledge, theories, methods, and practices through both research and teaching. Graduate and undergraduate students often have the opportunity to enhance their own education through collaboration with faculty members on important research projects.

Professor Barbara Wildemuth has a passion for teaching, and it shows. Click on the picture to read more.

Associate Professor Brian Sturm researches children's reading preferences. Click on the picture to read more.

In the coming decade, the School will face a serious challenge attracting and retaining talented faculty members. Nationally, more than a third of senior faculty members will reach retirement age, meaning the fight for top scholars will be intense. In this atmosphere, it is imperative that SILS be able to offer competitive salaries and benefits packages to the most outstanding scholars.

Gifts such as these ensure that the School has extraordinary faculty now and in the future:

Named endowed professorships ($250,000 - $666,000 each).
Professorships attract the finest professors in the area of librarianship and information science from all over the world. These professorships provide salary supplements and support for teaching and research.

Named endowed faculty development funds ($30,000 - $50,000 each).
Faculty development funds enable the School to give teaching awards and host guest lecturers, who greatly enhance the School's research, teaching capabilities, and prominence. In addition, these funds enable faculty to stay current on best practices in the field by attending courses and conferences where they present their research findings.

Named endowed international faculty exchanges and fellowships ($60,000 - $100,000).
Funding for international exchanges enables SILS faculty to foster international communication for research and education. When our faculty members participate in scholarly exchanges, they bring back to the School and its students the benefits of their rich learning experiences, global perspectives, and newly gained expertise in their areas of focus.