Investing in Academic Quality
  
 
 
  When Diana Beecher '70 established the Eichelberger Endowed Chair in the College of Arts and Science she was doing more than memorializing the teachers in her family, including her father. She was supporting the university that she believes in by investing in academic quality.  
   
  "Endowing a faculty chair is a way to differentiate Shippensburg University," she says. "An endowed chair is an investment in the academic quality of the University because it provides the resources to attract faculty leaders who have national, and even international, reputations."  
   
   
  The Eichelberger Endowed Chair is the second endowed chair established at Shippensburg University. The first chair was established in the College of Education and Human Services by a donor who wishes to remain anonymous.  
   
  Endowing a chair stands as a testimony to philanthropic vision and commitment to excellence in education. By endowing a chair, a donor provides the necessary funds to support a faculty member in several ways, including enhancing salary, supporting a graduate research assistant, and encouraging research support.  
   
 
Distinguished academic leaders recruited through endowed chairs bring a special perspective to the classroom. They also are mentors to students and younger faculty, and stimulate research and teaching initiatives. They help the University to flourish and grow in prestige among its peer institutions.
  
   
  A Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Travelers Insurance, Diana says, "Academic quality is critical to the future of the University. Academic quality draws attention from students and their parents, from donors, from government leaders, and from other universities."  
   
  Teaching has played an important role in Diana's life. Her father began his career as a teacher before World War II, and she has several aunts who were teachers, one who taught in a one-room schools and one who taught math in a middle school.  
   
  "I was an accounting major because I always wanted to go into business," she says. "But, I also took several education courses that have served me well in communicating effectively, developing effective leadership, and focusing on issues. After all, those are skills that are at the heart of teaching."  
   
   
  The faculty at Shippensburg puts students first. Indeed, one of the University's strengths is that the faculty is committed to a student-centered focus in their teaching, the faculty's effective use of resources, and their commitment to helping students to succeed.  
   
  Ask Diana which faculty member stands out from her college years and she does not hesitate. "Norman King was a wonderful mentor," she says. "On the surface he was a tough, demanding advanced accounting professor who was very much a no-nonsense person. Students held him in awe, and I think that most students were at least a little afraid of him in class."  
   
  But, she declares, "Professor King knew his students as human beings. He would do anything to help and would play to their strengths and weaknesses. He always took whatever time was necessary to help a student succeed." (Norman King taught at Shippensburg from 1947 until his retirement in 1970 as a professor of accounting.)  
   
  "I am very much a proponent of public education and the important role that public institutions like Shippensburg play as part of the social structure," Diana says. "Shippensburg University has been a very valuable part of my life."  
   
  "This endowed chair is an excellent way to invest in the University and its future."