As part of a major initiative to recruit and retain outstanding scholars and teachers, Vanderbilt is this year announcing 60 new endowed faculty chair holders. Already 34 of them have been honored in a series of events at the Student Life Center, celebrating the achievements of the chair holders and the generosity of those who made the endowments possible. They are:
Victor Anderson, Oberlin Theological School Chair; Margaret M. Blair, Milton R. Underwood Chair in Free Enterprise; Dr. John W. Brock III, Monroe Carell Jr. Chair; William P. Caferro, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in History; Dr. Dai H. Chung, Janie Robinson and John Moore Lee Chair in Pediatrics; Dr. Ellen Wright Clayton, Craig-Weaver Chair in Pediatrics; Roger D. Cone, Joe C. Davis Chair in Biomedical Science; Dr. Michael R. DeBaun, J.C. Peterson, M.D., Chair in Pediatric Pulmonology;
Dr. Kathryn M. Edwards, Sarah H. Sell and Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair; Lynn Enterline, Nancy Perot Mulford Chair in English; Yanqin Fan, Centennial Chair in Economics; Kathleen L. Gould, Louise B. McGavock Chair; Jonathan L. Haines, Louise B. McGavock Chair; Dr. David G. Harrison, Betty and Jack Bailey Chair in Cardiology; Dr. Jacek J. Hawiger, Louise B. McGavock Chair; Steven D. Hollon, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in Psychology; Carl H. Johnson, Stevenson Chair in Biological Sciences; Owen D. Jones, New York Alumni Chancellor’s Chair in Law;
Michael P. Kreyling, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in English; Jane G. Landers, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in History; Tong Li, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in Economics; William Luis, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in Spanish; Dr. Mark A. Magnuson, Louise B. McGavock Chair; Dr. Randolph A. Miller, Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair; Dr. Karoly Mirnics, James G. Blakemore Chair in Psychiatry; James G. Patton, Stevenson Chair in Biological Sciences;
Dr. L. Jackson Roberts II, William Stokes Chair in Experimental Therapeutics; Sandra J. Rosenthal, Jack and Pamela Egan Chair in Chemistry; Mitchell A. Seligson, Centennial Chair in Political Science; David H. Wasserman, Annie Mary Lyle Chair; John A. Weymark, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in Economics; David C. Wood, W. Alton Jones Chair in Philosophy; Christopher V. Wright, Louise B. McGavock Chair; and Dr. Mary M. Zutter, Louise B. McGavock Chair.
Daughter’s Gift Still Changing Lives
Louise B. McGavock never attended Vanderbilt, but her impact on the institution still resonates nearly 50 years after her death in 1965. The prominent Nashville philanthropist and social leader left her trust, including her family’s historic Two Rivers Mansion, to Vanderbilt University, eventually making it possible for the university to establish eight faculty chairs in the School of Medicine. Three of the new endowed chairs announced earlier this year stem from her generosity.
Mrs. McGavock’s gift to Vanderbilt was made in recognition of the care that her father, William Bransford, had received at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She made a gift in his name in 1956 to expand and renovate the hematology laboratory. Through the years, careful stewardship of her estate has allowed Louise McGavock’s gifts to continue to sustain Vanderbilt and to accomplish more than she ever could have envisioned.