Penn State Professor of Chemistry Steven M. Weinreb and his wife, Nancy Weinreb, have endowed the Weinreb Family Early Career Professorship in the Eberly College of Science at Penn State to support young faculty members in the Department of Chemistry.
"Our goal in establishing the professorship is to help the Penn State Department of Chemistry to support bright, young faculty members at the very start of their teaching and research careers," Steven Weinreb said. "We want to help assure that Penn State will have scientists, scholars, and educators with the greatest potential to contribute to our students, to our University, and to our world."
Steven and Nancy have been part of the Penn State community for more than 30 years, beginning in 1978 when Steven, now the Russell and Mildred Marker Professor of Natural Products Chemistry, first became a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry. Steve's leadership positions at Penn State include serving as both department head and interim dean of the Eberly College of Science in the mid-1990s.
Nancy worked for many years as a library assistant with Penn State's University Libraries. Now active as a volunteer in the community, she serves as head docent at the Palmer Museum, as vice-president and secretary of the board of the Schlow Library Foundation, and as an active member of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Weinreb sons Paul and Michael are Penn State alumni, and daughter-in-law Carolyn earned her doctoral degree at Penn State.
The Weinrebs took advantage of the University's Faculty Endowment Challenge -- a gift-matching program in which Penn State pays one-third of the cost of endowing a faculty position. "After being with the University for so long, and now having this opportunity to enhance our gift with matching funds from Penn State, Nancy and I felt now was the right time to give back," Steven said.
Early Career Professorships rotate every three years to a new recipient in the first ten years of his or her academic career, providing seed money for innovative research projects and flexible funding for new approaches to teaching. The endowments typically require a minimum commitment of $500,000, but through the Faculty Endowment Challenge, donors may establish new Early Career Professorships for any of the University’s colleges or campuses with a commitment of $334,000. The University will commit the remaining one-third of the necessary funds, approximately $166,000, from unrestricted endowment resources, ensuring support for rising faculty stars.
Penn State’s alumni and friends are invaluable partners in fulfilling the University’s land-grant mission of education, research, and service. Private gifts from alumni and friends enrich the experiences of students both in and out of the classroom, expand the research and teaching capacity of our faculty, enhance the University’s ability to recruit and retain top students and faculty, and help to ensure that students from every economic background have access to a Penn State education. The University’s colleges and campuses are now enlisting the support of alumni and friends to advance a range of unit-specific initiatives.