Business Policies and Procedures Manual
Chapter 30: Finance

Chairs and Professorships

BPPM 30.82

For more information contact:
   WSU Foundation–University Development
   509-335-6686 / foundation@wsu.edu
   Office of the Provost
   509-335-5581 / provosts.office@wsu.edu

1.0 Overview and Purpose

Washington State University (WSU, University) and the WSU Foundation (WSUF) are committed to the tradition and importance of chairs and professorships.

Appointment to a chair or professorship is intended to be the University’s most prestigious recognition for continuing scholarly achievement and distinction. In the selection of an individual for these appointments, the following factors may be taken into consideration:

  • Teaching
  • Service
  • Distinction or achievement in the candidate’s field
  • Productivity in scholarship or creative activity
  • Promotion of the University’s mission, vision, and values, including the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion

This policy authorizes the establishment of chairs and professorships to provide recognition for distinguished achievements of faculty in these areas.

The University recognizes the obligation of the state of Washington to be the primary fund source for support of the University’s core faculty positions. However, the University also recognizes the desire of donors to support a wide variety of academic and research activities through the creation of endowed and current use funds to enhance state support for the University’s mission.

2.0  Applicability

This policy applies to all funds named in honor of a donor or others that provide direct supplemental support for individual faculty members. This includes funding provided by:

  • An endowment distribution,
  • A quasi endowment distribution (see also BPPM 30.78), or
  • An annual current use gift or other source of funding that is:
    • Derived from a gift or a discretionary administrative source, and
    • Provided on a term basis for a specified period consistent with gift terms or administrative allocation terms.

Chairs and professorships established prior to publication of this policy are, to the extent consistent with the original intent of the donor and terms of the governing gift or allocation instrument, administered in conformity with this policy. To the extent there are inconsistencies, the original intent of the donor and the terms of the gift use agreement will be honored whenever possible.

3.0  Definitions

Chairs and professorships are reserved for the recruitment and retention of distinguished scholars and teachers. Distinguished is defined by the designated unit based on internal criteria.

3.1   Distinguished Faculty Chair

A distinguished faculty chair aims to promote and advance excellence in teaching, Extension, or research in a specific academic field or discipline. Distinguished faculty chairs are highly esteemed positions and serve to recognize and incentivize excellence in academia. A distinguished faculty chair funds a faculty member to support their teaching, research, Extension, and service. It may support salary.

3.2   Faculty Chair

Faculty chairs are highly esteemed positions that recognize and incentivize excellence in academia. They help universities attract and retain outstanding faculty members and advance knowledge in specific academic areas. The funds provided ensure that the academic activities of the chair continue over years, making a lasting impact on the institution and the field of study.

If endowed, the fund provides a stable and perpetual funding source for the faculty chair. This funding may be used for various purposes, including:

  • Salary
  • Research, teaching, or Extension support
  • Travel
  • Other academic activities

3.3   Professorship

A professorship provides funds to a faculty member in support of their teaching, research, Extension, and service. In addition, unless expressly prohibited by the gift use agreement, a professorship may support salary.

4.0  Roles and Responsibilities  

4.1   Provost and Executive Vice President

The Provost is authorized to approve all chairs and professorships, and to issue administrative procedures and guidelines for implementing this policy. The Provost must approve the chair or professorship before acceptance of the designated gift is finalized. No final commitment to establish and name a chair or professorship may be made to a prospective donor prior to the Provost’s approval. The Provost’s approval of the chair or professorship must occur prior to the acceptance of any private funding.

4.2   Executive Vice President for Health Sciences

Review and endorsement by the Executive Vice President for Health Sciences is also required for chairs and professorships in the:

  • Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
  • College of Nursing
  • College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

4.3   WSU Foundation (WSUF)

WSUF is authorized to review and approve all proposals to fund all or any portion of a chair or professorship through a deferred gift, including without limitation, an irrevocable gift at death.

Each deferred gift’s remainder interest must have an estimated net present value or present value, depending on the type of the deferred gift, equal to or more than the minimum dollar amount required to fully fund the chair or professorship. WSUF must perform the calculation of, or engage a third-party professional to calculate, the estimated remainder interest, with such calculation being determinative.

WSUF approves proposals from a donor when a chair or professorship is to be funded from assets held by a fiduciary or in an account external to WSUF.

5.0  Requirements and Procedures

5.1   Establishment, Funding, and Naming

The establishment and naming of chairs and professorships must be:

  • Conducted in accordance with this policy
  • Aligned with the WSUF Named Gifts Protocol
  • Contingent upon the fulfillment of the pledge for:
    • Funding of the endowment,
    • Current use gift, or
    • Other funding mechanism; and
  • Subject to University policies, procedures, and guidelines to ensure appropriate financial and organizational controls.
5.1.a    Subject Area

The subject area of the chair or professorship, if any, must be consistent with the mission of WSU and the academic plan of the designated campus or college the chair or professorship benefits.

5.1.b    Gift Use Agreement

All chairs and professorships must be established by a gift use agreement. If a gift for support of a chair or professorship is intended also to provide support for other purposes, the governing gift use agreement must either:

  • Stipulate the percentage of the total gift or the residual amount or the dollar level to be directed to the additional purposes; or
  • Grant such discretionary authority to the chancellor or dean signing the gift use agreement.

In the absence of such a stipulation by the donor, the total gift is allocated for support of the chair or professorship.

Originals of the gift use agreements for chairs and professorships are held by WSUF offices, with copies to the administering campuses or colleges.

5.1.c    Funding

Each chair or professorship is supported by either:

  • An endowment distribution;
  • A quasi endowment distribution (see also BPPM 30.78); or
  • An annual current use gift or other source of funding.
5.1.c.i   Minimum Funding Level

To establish a chair or professorship, a fund must reach the minimum required by the WSUF.

If the chair or professorship is to be funded through an annual current use gift or an administrative allocation, the initial and future allocations must at least equal the amount of the annual distribution for an equivalent endowed fund minimum.

5.1.c.ii  State Matching Funds

When state funding is available and the gift use agreement includes a request from the donor to seek state funding, state matching funds are to be sought for each eligible chair or professorship, in coordination with the central Budget Office and in accordance with RCW 28B.76.565. State matching funds are not to be implied or guaranteed in gift use agreements or discussed with donors until secured.

5.1.d    Naming

A chair or professorship may be named in honor of the donor or other honoree, including a current active faculty member, designated by the donor, subject to the Provost’s approval. For health sciences colleges, the approval of the Executive Vice President for Health Sciences is also required. For further information, including naming revocation, see the WSUF Named Gifts Protocol.

5.2   Appointment

 5.2.a    Faculty Appointment Procedures

Appointments to chairs or professorships are made in accordance with regularly established University procedures for faculty appointments (see BPPM 60.11), except as noted in Section 5.2.c. The designation of a faculty member for appointment to an chair or professorship is made by the campus or college in accordance with the standards and procedures of this policy.

5.2.b    Term of Appointment

Unless otherwise provided in the gift use agreement or the terms of the administrative allocation a chair or professorship is most commonly filled for a fixed five-year term. The appointment may be filled for an indefinite period (subject to periodic review).

The chancellor or dean may decide to reassign a chair or professorship in accordance with campus or college procedures, including consultation with the Provost. In such cases, the chancellor, dean, or designee should provide written notification to the current chair or professorship holder. In the absence of a notice period specified in the appointment letter or in applicable campus or college procedures (see Section 5.5), written notification should be given to the holder at least 90 days prior to reassignment or removal of a chair or professorship. When removal of a chair or professorship occurs in conjunction with a warning, censure, or formal discipline, the faculty disciplinary procedures in the WSU Faculty Manual Section II.F apply.

5.2.c    Simultaneous Administrative Position

A chair or professorship holder may serve simultaneously in an administrative position, e.g., chancellor, dean, department chair; director of an organized research unit; academic director. The University has separate appointment procedures for administrative officers, and such appointments are reviewed and approved separately. (See BPPM 60.11 and 60.12.)

5.2.d    Vacant Chair and Professorship

If an established, fully-funded chair or professorship remains vacant for a period of three years or more, or if the chair or professorship’s accumulated income exceeds five years of distributions, the chancellor, dean or designee, and the WSUF must review the fund’s terms and administrative history to ascertain the reason for the accumulation. The chancellor, dean, or designee (with approvals from the Provost and WSUF, and for health sciences colleges, the Executive Vice President for Health Sciences) must then take appropriate corrective action consistent with the terms of the gift use agreement. Such action may include:

  • Implementing a new expenditure plan designed to fill the chair or professorship and/or to utilize the distribution fully.
  • Redesignating the chair or professorship and/or fund purpose, following consultation with and approval of the donor. Donor consultation should be in partnership with the WSUF.
  • If the donor is not available, seeking legal means for a redesignation of the chair or professorship and/or fund purpose coordinated by the WSUF.

5.3   Use of Distributions

Distributions are defined as dollar amounts for current expenditure made available from an endowment held by the WSUF. The distributions must be used in accordance with this section (Section 5.3).

5.3.a    Use for Chair or Professorship

Distributions and/or annual support are provided to holders of chairs and professorships to support teaching, research, and service activities of a chair or professorship holder. Such allowable expenses may include, but are not limited to:

  • Travel
  • Equipment
  • Wages for research and graduate assistants

In addition, distributions and annual support may be used to support the base salary and/or other salary components of a chair or professorship holder. (See also Section 5.3.b.)

The chancellor, dean, or designee may require:

  • Candidates to submit a plan of activity for use of the position funds prior to the naming of a chair or professorship holder; and
  • The chair or professorship holder to submit an annual plan of activity for use of the endowed and/or current use position funds.

    Note: This plan, which would be submitted prior to the use of funds each year, would be in addition to the annual use summary required in Section 5.6.a, which is submitted after the funds have been expended.

Expenditures must be made in accordance with the gift or administrative allocation terms and an annual budget approved by the holder’s supervisor or college administrator following the normal budgetary process.

5.3.b    Base Salary

Unless expressly permitted by the gift instrument, fund distributions may not be used to supplant the base salary, or a portion of the base salary, of a chair or professorship holder. For purposes of this policy, base salary is the salary paid to a faculty member for their teaching, research, service, and other University duties during the course of the year.

If permitted by the gift instrument, the distributions may be used to supplement the base salary of the chair or professorship holder in accordance with University policy and campus procedures. (See also Section 5.5.)

The distribution and/or annual support provided to a chair or professorship may also be used to support other salary components, including, but not limited to:

  • Summer salary of the holder;
  • Additional compensation under an approved compensation plan in accordance with applicable policies; or
  • Other additional compensation permitted by University policy.

Unless expressly permitted by the gift use agreement, distributions and/or donor funded annual support may not be used to support sabbatical supplement.

5.4   Dissolution

5.4.a    Review
5.4.a.i   Endowed Chairs and Professorships

The establishment of an endowed chair or professorship is contingent on completion of endowment funding. A chair or professorship whose endowment has not reached full funding either by the end of the specified pledge period or the maturity of the deferred gift or bequest must be reviewed by the chancellor, dean, or designee, and the WSUF. Such a review is to include any alternative uses for the distributions prescribed by the gift use agreement and/or through discussions with the donor.

Subject to the donor’s approval and upon recommendation by the chancellor or dean, the Provost is authorized to dissolve an endowed chair or professorship if:

  • The subject area ceases to be consistent with the University’s mission and the academic plan of the campus or college; or
  • The endowed professorship remains vacant for a period of three years and the chancellor or dean, after consultation with the academic supervisor, determines there is no likelihood of filling the chair or professorship.
5.4.a.ii  Other Chairs and Professorships

Upon dissolution of a chair or professorship funded through a gift, the distribution or annual support is reallocated to the alternative purpose stated in the gift use agreement or as subsequently specified by the donor in consultation with the chancellor or dean. If a donor is deceased and has not specified an alternative purpose, the chancellor, dean, or designee, and WSUF must request the assistance of institutional and/or WSUF legal counsel to obtain court approval for an alternative use of distributions in a related field.

5.5   Campus and College Procedures

A campus or college may have written procedures regarding:

  • Establishment and naming of chairs and professorships
  • Dissolution of chairs and professorships
  • Filling of chairs and professorships
  • Use of endowment distributions for faculty salaries

These procedures are to incorporate and be consistent with this policy (BPPM 30.82). The Provost must approve the campus or college written policies prior to implementation.

Copies of campus and college policies and procedures on chairs and professorships are to be forwarded to the Provost with a copy to the WSUF.

5.6   Reporting

5.6.a    Annual Use Summary

The chair or professorship holder must provide an annual summary of the uses of the funds to the chancellor, dean, provost (and, for health sciences, the Executive Vice President for Health Sciences), and the WSUF.

The summary must specifically address how the expenditures supported the research, teaching, and service of the chair or professorship holder in accordance with the gift use agreement. The chancellor or dean then determines if sufficient progress and activity have occurred before reallocation of new funds for the chair or professorship holder’s use.

5.6.b    Annual Summary Report

Each fiscal year, the chancellor or dean coordinates with the WSUF to provide a report on all chairs and professorships funded with private dollars to the Provost (the Annual Endowment Report). The report includes the following information for each chair or professorship:

  • Chair or professorship name
  • Academic unit
  • Specified discipline
  • Year approved, or, if for a term chair or professorship, the inclusive years during which the chair or professorship is in effect.
  • Pledged amount
  • Book value at year-end
  • Market value at year-end
  • Unexpended endowment distributions at year-end
  • Confirmation of a current appointment to the chair or professorship, vacancy of the chair or professorship, or dissolution of the chair or professorship and reallocation of chair or professorship funds.

6.0   Resources

For questions or information about this policy (BPPM 30.82) or to obtain samples of the most current template and potential uses language for gift use agreements to establish chairs and professorships, contact the:

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Revisions:  May 2024 (Rev. 626); Sept. 2018 – new policy (Rev. 519)