Don Haile, a member of the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) Advisory Board, recently pledged funds to create the college's first Early Career Professorship. Such professorships are awarded to promising young faculty members and rotate every three years. Haile has pledged $334,000, which will be supplemented by $166,000 from Penn State.
Haile, who also chairs the college’s component of the University's fundraising effort, For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students, said he thought endowing an Early Career Professorship would be a good way to make a lasting impact on the college.
“It’s a chance to help younger faculty, who will hopefully be at the University for a long time,” he said, “and the gift is matched in part by Penn State, which makes it a little more obtainable than funding a full professorship.”
Income from the endowment typically supports salary supplements and provides seed money for the holder's research and teaching activities.
Dave Hall, the College of Information Sciences and Technology’s interim dean, said Haile has worked tirelessly to help the college in a variety of ways.
“Don’s background makes him a unique and valuable resource to our students and faculty, and the professorship will enable the College of IST to attract young, extraordinary faculty," Hall said. "An Early Career Professorship is particularly critical as we work with emerging initiatives. This donation is one more way that Don has expressed his passion for the work we do here at IST.”
Haile, who holds a degree in electrical engineering from Penn State, is currently a venture partner at Fidelity Investments. He joined Fidelity in 1998 as executive vice president of enterprise solutions, where he was responsible for the worldwide development of infrastructure and application products. He was named the company's Chief Information Officer in 1999, a position he held until the end of 2005.
Prior to joining Fidelity, Haile spent the first 34 years of his career with IBM, where he held various executive positions in hardware and software development, with responsibilities for telecommunications, systems management and IBM operating systems.