10/03/2007 04:35 PM
The Louisiana Board of Regents presented $3,960,000 in state funds to four LSU entities on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at a ceremony at the Dalton J. Woods Auditorium of the Energy Coast & Environment Building on the LSU campus. This funding comes from the Board of Regents Support Fund, or BRSF, and will be used to match private donations raised for six endowed chairs and 39 endowed professorships. Since 1986, the total amount given through the BRSF to LSU is $51,200,000 and a total endowment value of $128 million.
Commissioner of Higher Education E. Joseph Savoie and Board of Regents members presented checks to LSU Chancellor Sean O’Keefe, Paul M. Hebert Law Center Chancellor Jack Weiss and LSU Agricultural Center Chancellor William B. Richardson at Wednesday’s ceremony. Collectively, the three entities raised $5,940,000 in private donations, which were eligible for $3,960,000 in matching funds from the BRSF.
O’Keefe received a check for $3.52 million, to match funding for six endowed chairs and 28 endowed professorships at LSU. Weiss received $240,000 to match six endowed professorships at the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. Richardson received $200,000 to match five endowed professorships at the LSU Agricultural Center.
Created through partnerships between donors and state government, endowed chairs and endowed professorships assist colleges and universities throughout the state in recruiting new scholars and researchers. According to a policy established by the Board of Regents, each endowed chair is worth at least $1 million, and each endowed professorship is worth at least $100,000.
Colleges and universities must raise at least 60 percent of the cost of the endowments through private donations. By using grants from the BRSF, the state then provides a 40 percent match of the monetary donations made for each endowed chair and each endowed professorship.
According to the Board of Regents’ office, the BRSF stems from a percentage of the annual interest earned on the Louisiana Education Quality Support Fund, or LEQSF. Each year 25 percent of the fund’s annual interest is retained and will continue to be retained until it reaches $2 billion. The remaining interest is divided between the Board of Regents, creating the BRSF, and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for grades K-12.
In addition to matching funding for grant requests for endowed chairs and endowed professorships, the BRSF is also used to provide grants for recruiting graduate students to Louisiana, to provide equipment for laboratories and classrooms throughout the state’s colleges and universities, and to boost the state’s share of federal research and development money.
For more information on BRSF funding, contact Katie Cooper, director of stewardship for the LSU Foundation, at 225-578-7604 or
kcooper@lsufoundation.org.
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Ernie BallardLSU Media Relations
225/578-5685