It has been said that in order to attract the best, you have to be the best. For the University of Nebraska, this means having the highest quality educators - and to have the highest quality educators means there must be faculty support.

University of Nebraska at Omaha psychology professor Joseph Brown, who holds an endowed position, knows the importance of faculty support. Brown says that donors’ support of UNO’s faculty helps make the university “remarkable” and helps produce outstanding teachers and researchers, which ultimately benefits students.

Awarded the James R. Schumacher Chair of Ethics in 2009, Brown has used part of the stipend annually provided by the endowment fund to conduct research and data analysis of ethical issues, as well as attend conferences to receive formal ethics training – all of which, he says, would otherwise not be possible.

The Schumacher Chair, which was established in 2007 through the estate of UNO alumnus James Schumacher, is also used to directly benefit students through the Schumacher Seminar, a multidisciplinary class taught by Brown. The class offers students a chance to learn about ethics in a traditional classroom setting and to apply that knowledge through service-learning projects with local non-profit organizations. The chair stipend provides funding for these projects as well as a $500 scholarship for each student who applies and is admitted into the seminar.

“This seminar offers students an education that can’t be given just in a classroom. It puts them in contact with people who are different from themselves, which is critical in applying ethics,” Brown said. “I’m able to offer this style of class that is more typical of small, expensive colleges, not public universities, because of the Schumacher Chair.”

The University of Nebraska’s support of its faculty is fundamental to its academic excellence, which is why faculty support is one of the priority areas of the Campaign for Nebraska.

Through the university and foundation’s previous campaign, Campaign Nebraska, 22 endowed faculty positions were created at UNO. Now ranked among the top 30 public universities in research and development, and with enrollment reaching an all-time high, there is an even greater demand for faculty support at the university.

Increased support for endowed chairs, as well as professorships and graduate positions, is crucial to the university’s ability to competitively attract and retain educators.