Endowed Chairs
Project Overview
Endowed chairs are the most prestigious positions offered by the university and ensure the UAlberta continues to successfully compete for exceptional educators and researchers who bring a wealth of expertise. As leaders in their respective fields, endowed chairs make the university highly competitive.
By establishing a chair, you will help:
- Advance fundamental knowledge in ways that contribute to our understanding of a subject or area.
- Help the university compete for talented educators and researchers.
- Provide the means for significant advancements in specific fields of study.
- Create new knowledge.
Working Toward Bright Futures
Garrett Cumming was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) when he was three years old. DMD is the most common childhood form of muscular dystrophy as well as the most debilitating. It exclusively afflicts boys, shortening their lives. When Garrett was in his early 20s, his parents and other family members began to consider how they could best honour Garrett's perseverance and strength of character.
The family decided to establish a chair dedicated to finding a cure for muscular dystrophy. The Friends of Garrett Cumming Research Chair, the first of its kind in Canada, attracted world-class researcher Toshifumi Yokota, who was appointed to the role in 2011. Building on his previous research, Yokota and his team at the University of Alberta developed a process that significantly lessens the effects of DMD by increasing healthy protein levels. For DMD patients, this breakthrough therapy could mark the difference between a wheelchair and walking, and it could raise life expectancy from 25 to 70 years.
"The results were very good - better than we expected," says Yokota. "I believe this new therapy has great potential to have a positive impact on patients."
"This is an exciting time, and to have the early results of this research hold such promise is very rewarding," said Garrett. "For everyone living with muscular dystrophy and their families, the future just got a little brighter."
The Impact of Your Donations
More than 104 endowed chairs have been established to support talented faculty who serve as intellectual catalysts across campus.
Endowed donations ensure the University of Alberta will continue to provide opportunities in education, research and outreach far into the future. Endowments provide a steady and permanent source of funding through investments, and the income generated by an endowment provides long-term, continuous support for the endowment's purpose, as directed by the donor.
An endowed chair can be established with a donation of $4 million. New or current faculty are appointed to the position for a five-year term, subject to renewal. This amount allows for funding of a research stipend, partial salary and benefits, and other associated research expenses.
How to Help
You can help advance our goal of building one of the world's great universities for public good by attracting talented faculty and researchers.
A member of the University of Alberta Advancement Team would be pleased to discuss how creating an endowment chair can support your giving goals.
Giving Theme
Ways to Give
Charitable Gift Annuities, Memorial/Tribute Gifts