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Christina Smith
Daily Egyptian

The SIUC law school plans to award the Southern Illinois Healthcare Professorship in the fall to a senior faculty member working in law and medicine.

Southern Illinois Healthcare, a non-profit healthcare system of local hospitals and clinics, is the main donor for the professorship. The Garwin Family Foundation has also donated to the professorship.

"It is a way to recognize senior faculty members who are making extraordinary contributions to the law school and the University," Alexander said.

A named professorship is a chair or position that is awarded to a senior faculty member and is paid for by either a firm, person or fund. The name of the professorship comes from the name of the sponsor. It is also a lifetime title given to the professor.

"It is a distinguished honor to receive a named professorship," Alexander said.

The professor will receive a $250,000 endowment to help support the faculty member's work, law school dean Peter Alexander said. So far, the law school has received $180,000 in gifts and pledges for the professorship. Alexander said the fundraising for the endowment should be completed by the end of the year.

Health law or law and medicine are the areas the professor will be chosen from, Alexander said. The professor is asked to provide a list of external reviewers, whom Alexander asks about the nominee's career and if they think the person is an appropriate choice to receive the professorship.

The professor will be given the title Southern Illinois Healthcare Professor, which will be keep as long as the professor woks at the University. The title will be given to the professor at a public ceremony.

In 2004, the law school's first named professorship, the Garwin Distinguished Professor of Law and Medicine, was awarded to Marshall Kapp.

The Garwin Family Foundation created the Garwin professorship and have donated over $500, 000 to the law school in the last few years to support health law and policy work, Alexander said. The Garwin professorship was created to allow SIU to recruit a senior person in law and medicine to the law school, Kapp said.

"The opportunity that the chair represented is what attracted me to SIU," Kapp said. Kapp said he is glad for the opportunity to help expand the law and medicine program in the law school.

Having another named professorship is an important part of the plan to make law and medicine a major emphasis within the law school, Kapp said.

The law school started in 1973 and is relatively young and to now have two named professorships is quite an accomplishment for the school, Alexander said.

"We are grateful to Southern Illinois Healthcare and to the other donors to this fund who are helping to make this happen," Alexander said.

Christina Smith can be reached at christina_smith@dailyegyptian.com