UC Merced Magazine | Volume XIX, Issue VII

DONOR IMPACT

Professor Nate Monroe said the Tony Coelho Endowed Chair in Public Policy is important in all of his work, from teaching to advancing the Center for Analytic Political Engagement.

Power of Endowed Chairs Driving Research Excellence at UC Merced

By Francesca Dinglasan Endowed chairs are a cornerstone of faculty recruitment, retention and excellence, representing the highest accolade that can be bestowed on professors. UC Merced’s recent R1 designation by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, reflecting a high level of research funding and earned doctorate degrees, would not have been possible without the growing number of endowed chairs across campus. Established mainly through private philanthropy, endowed chairs are a valuable mark of academic distinction for outstanding faculty in direct support of their research and scholarly work. Earnings from the endowment are an

ongoing funding source and allow a university to plan for the future while continuing to advance discovery and innovation. UC Merced Professor Nathan Monroe, who holds the Tony Coelho Endowed Chair in Public Policy, credits his chair as being “integral to all aspects of [his] work,” including data collection for a book project, expanded support for graduate and undergraduate research and, most significantly, the ongoing development of the UC Merced Center for Analytic Political Engagement. “The center is very much in the spirit of Tony Coelho’s legacy as well as my own values in the sense that it will advocate at all levels of government for the interests of the Central Valley and advance the representation of underrepresented groups more generally,” Monroe said.

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