An endowed professorship is being created in honor of Patricia A. Sullivan in recognition of her service as chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro from 1995 to 2008.

The Patricia A. Sullivan Distinguished Professorship in the Sciences is being created by several donors who have contributed or made pledges for the necessary $417,000 for the endowment. UNCG will apply for matching funds -- $250,000 from the C.D. Spangler Foundation and $333,000 from the N.C. Distinguished Professorship Endowment Trust Fund -- to bring the total endowment to $1 million. The endowment is being created as part of the Students First Campaign, which ended June 30.

The fund will add a nationally known scholar to UNCG's faculty when the pledges are fulfilled. Sullivan is a biologist by training, and the endowment will establish a professorship in the College of Arts & Sciences, to be assigned to the Department of Biology, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Department of Geography or Department of Physics & Astronomy.

"This is wonderful recognition of Pat Sullivan's service and dedication to this university for almost 14 years," said Vice Chancellor for University Advancement Patricia W. Stewart.

"It is also a wonderful gift to the university. One of the campaign's priorities has been the creation of endowed professorships so that our students can learn from the brightest faculty.

"I want to recognize the Excellence Foundation Board for its primary leadership and support to raise the needed dollars, and also give special thanks to the Board of Trustees and Board of Visitors for their support."

Sullivan became chancellor of UNCG on January 1, 1995. For almost 14 years, she led the institution as it grew to become a research university and the largest state institution in the Piedmont Triad.

Under Sullivan's leadership, enrollment at the university reached an all-time high while academic standards for admission have increased. UNCG continues to be among the most ethnically diverse campuses in the UNC system. New undergraduate programs for freshman include Communication across the Curriculum and the living-learning communities. Distinctive graduate programs include genetic counseling and management information systems, along with several new doctorate programs.

In 2000, Sullivan went door to door in Greensboro to campaign for the $3.1 billion N.C. Higher Education Bond referendum. The bonds passed and allowed UNCG to build several new academic buildings, including a $47 million, state-of-the-art facility for science teaching and research that opened in 2003. In April 2008 it was named the Patricia A. Sullivan Science Building. She now lives in Greensboro with her husband, Dr. Charles Sullivan.

In 2007, the Spangler Foundation announced that it would make $26.9 million available to support the creation of up to 96 endowed professorships -- or six at each of the UNC system's 16 campuses. During the first year of this two-part initiative, the foundation provided full private funding for the first 16 new professorships, one at each campus, to qualify for state matching from funds from the Board of Governors' Distinguished Professors Endowment Trust Fund. To endow the remaining five Distinguished Professorships, UNCG must raise $417,000 for each -- $2.1 million to be matched by the state and the Spangler Foundation.

That goal is being met through the Students First Campaign, which has passed its $100 million goal and raised more than $111.6 million in gifts and pledges through the end of May.

For information, call the UNCG Campaign Office at (336) 334-5677 or visit the campaign Web site, donate.uncg.edu.