Date: August 26, 2008
Contact: Office of Development
417-255-7240

    WEST PLAINS, Mo.– The promise of an annual gift for the next five years from the Philanthropic Women for Education organization will lead to a professorship in the William and Virginia Darr Honors Program at Missouri State University-West Plains.
    Chancellor Drew Bennett announced members of the organization agreed that the group would contribute $11,250 each year for the next five years toward the professorship.  The annual contribution would be used to augment the salary of the professorship while university officials use the next five years to search for a donor or organization that would fully endow the position, he explained.
    “I am extremely grateful that the Philanthropic Women’s group has initiated a concept for our West Plains campus that is long overdue,” Bennett said.  “Not only will our honors program benefit, but all faculty will benefit as we move closer to market salary.  Our intent is to endow this gift in the next five years.  I hope others will continue this effort and create named professorships and endowed chairs in other departments.”
    Assistant to the Chancellor Dennis Lancaster, who founded the honors program at Missouri State-West Plains in 1998 and has served as an adjunct faculty member, will move from his administrative role to fill the professorship.  Lancaster’s new appointment will take effect Jan. 1, 2009, pending approval of the Missouri State University Board of Governors which meets again on Oct. 10.
    “The inception of the Honors Program in 1998 was due to the dedication and vision of Dennis Lancaster,” Bennett said.  “We want to retain Dennis in this new position because of his high standards and excellence in teaching college students.”
    “First of all, I am honored and humbled to have been chosen to fill this inaugural professorship for our campus,” Lancaster said.  “I thank the Philanthropic Women for Education for this wonderful expression of confidence in the Darr Honors Program and in Missouri State-West Plains.  Like that of Bill and Virginia Darr, their support at this critical time in the ongoing development of the program will be invaluable in meeting the student need for college-level honors education in our area.  With the honors program set to have a home of its own in the soon-to-be-constructed Hass-Hoover Hall, Dr. Bennett and I felt that the time had come for this next step, and I thank him for supporting me in this move, being such a great cheerleader for the program, and taking the initiative to seek out funding for this professorship.”
    Bennett said endowed professorships and chairs would attract and retain the most qualified and capable faculty to lead the courses of study in which the endowments were created.  It is fitting that Missouri State-West Plains’ first professorship will be for the Darr Honors Program, which is designed to challenge the campus’ best and brightest students through the learning process, he added.
    “This program provides a unique opportunity for students to develop leadership skills, travel abroad, gain experience in a rigorous, yet supportive, classroom environment, and demonstrate scholarly achievement in a challenging curriculum,” Bennett explained.  “This program must be headed by a superior leader, teacher and mentor.  The professorship is the key to this program and the vehicle by which these students are recruited, challenged and encouraged to excel.”
    Created in 1998, the Darr Honors Program has had remarkable success.  Over 250 entering freshmen, with 60-plus program graduates, have pursued or are currently pursuing careers in law, accounting, pharmacology, nursing, business, and the military.  Many serve today as high school or college instructors or staff members, ministers, and even a film screenwriter.  To date, there are 50 entering freshmen or sophomores who have been accepted into the honors program this fall.  This brings the number of students currently enrolled in the honors program for the 2008-09 academic year up to 66, the highest single-year enrollment to date.
    Founded in 2003 as a way to encourage women to be philanthropists, the Philanthropic Women for Education has been assisting Missouri State-West Plains in its mission “to provide quality educational opportunities to the communities it serves” by funding academic enrichment projects that enhance the learning experience for students inside and outside the classroom.
    For more information on contributing toward or creating an endowment at Missouri State-West Plains, call the Office of Development at 417-255-7240.