The University of Louisiana Monroe held a check presentation on Thursday to publicly acknowledge a $60,000 donation from IberiaBank.
The donation went toward the establishment of the IberiaBank Endowed Professorship of Distinction for recruiting and retaining faculty in the ULM College of Business and Social Sciences.
The press conference was held in conjunction with ULM’s 2016 first quarter Foundation board meetings on the 7th floor of the Library Conference Center.
“I just can’t say enough about how much we appreciate IberiaBank for making this happen because an investment in our faculty is an investment in our students and the continued success of our college,” said Dr. Ronald Berry, Dean of the College of Business and Social Science, at the press conference on Thursday.
an investment in our faculty is an investment in our students -- Ron Berry
Berry noted that his college was part of 1% of colleges of business and social sciences in the world that maintained accreditation from the AACSB-International—the premier business accrediting agency in the world-wide. He also expressed that the donation came at a good time amid potential budget cuts.
According to Dr. Nick J. Bruno, ULM president, “Programs like endowed professorships and chairs do so much to help recruit and retain the very best faculty.” Like Berry, Bruno also indicated that, despite the “gloom and doom” of budget issues in higher education, “ULM has chosen to grow, to improve, and to look to the future.”
This is IberiaBank’s first endowed professorship, which came to fruition under the leadership of Malcolm Maddox, Senior VP Commercial Lending Manager for IberiaBank. Maddox has been a long-time supporter of ULM. In fact, this is the second endowed professorship at ULM that he has been a part of. In his previous role as regional chair with Hibernia Bank (now Capitol One), he influenced the bank’s decision to invest $60,000 to establish the Capital One Endowed Professorship in Mathematics.
Maddox funded the first two installments of IberiaBank’s donation while he was Market President; the pledge was concluded in the budget year of Greg Kahmann, Northeast Louisiana Market President, who presented the check alongside Maddox.
We are proud that we are able to do something for our university. -- Malcom Maddox
“We are spread across about six states, [comprised of] about 20 billion in size,” said Maddox. “I will tell you that there is a lot of competition within our bank as far as what we do with our money for community purposes. We are proud that we are able to do something for our university here—and it is our university.”
Maddox and Kahmann presented the check to Dr. Bruno, Dr. Berry, and Anne Lockhart and Susan Chappell of the ULM Foundation.
For more information about the College of Business and Social Sciences, visit ulm.edu/cbss.
