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PERMANENT COMMITMENTS
LASTING SOLUTIONS
ENDOWED CHAIRS FIGHT FOOD SCARCITY CLOSE TO HOME
AND AROUND THE WORLD
by Katy Smith
ary Paul Nabhan and Rod Wing are two Rod Wing
Gof 115 endowed chairs at the University Plant scientist Rod Wing addresses food
of Arizona. Like all endowed professorships, problems farther afield.
Nabhan’s W.K. Kellogg Endowed Chair in “If we can’t grow enough food to feed 10 billion
Sustainable Food Systems and Wing’s Bud Antle people by 2050, it will destabilize the whole world,”
Endowed Chair for Excellence in Agriculture says Wing, whose endowed chair empowers him to
and Life Sciences are long-term partnerships explore the genes of cereal crops in search of hope
between exceptional scholars and donors who for the global future.
are deeply committed to a cause or field of study.
Gary Paul Nabhan Establishing an Endowed Chair
“Food problems are still plaguing our By establishing an endowed chair with a
community 100 years after our university was minimum $1 million donation, donors set up a
founded to deal with such issues,” says Gary funding source intended to last as long as the UA
Paul Nabhan, an ethnobiologist, author and stands. Each gift’s principal remains intact while
activist. Gary Paul Nabhan a percentage of the amount, known as the payout,
Nabhan has devoted his career to developing Michelle Burley photo funds the current chair holder’s work each year.
social justice solutions. His appointment as an These positions benefit many: students, who are
endowed chair provides a dedicated funding granted opportunities to learn from accomplished
source for his efforts to improve conditions in mentors; a society struggling with formidable
the region surrounding the UA. questions; and professors, like Nabhan and Wing,
with the promise to find answers.
Rod Wing and Sergio Valdez ’17 Jacob Chinn photo
20 ARIZONA ALUMNI MAGAZINE
