Miami University's For Love and Honor Campaign received Friday, March 23 another boost toward its fund-raising goals, as PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP - the assurance, tax, and advisory services firm - announced it would commit $1.1 million toward the campaign.
The donation provided by PricewaterhouseCoopers will create a new endowed chair position for a faculty member in accounting in the Farmer School of Business. In addition, a leadership gift pledged in 2005 of $400,000 from Richard and Joyce Farmer and the Farmer Family Foundation will match PricewaterhouseCooper's $1.1 million contribution.
Jenny Callison, the director of communications in the Farmer School of Business, asserted that the contribution from PricewaterhouseCoopers - their second gift to the university - will have great effects on Miami as a whole.
"Our biggest challenge as a school of business is to compete for junior faculty members - young adults who may have just earned their PhDs and are looking to begin their careers," Callison said.
Callison stressed that the pool of junior faculty members is a small one.
"Money is a tough situation because potential junior faculty could go into industry rather than education and make a lot more money there," Callison said. "Because one of Miami's strengths is the superior quality of our faculty, it is really important to hire faculty members who will rise to the top of their study so that we can continue bringing the best students into Miami."
Associate professor of marketing Michael McCarthy said that recruiting for faculty members will become an increasingly competitive venture over the next few years as the number of PhD candidates decreases and faculty members retire.
"(There are) lots of open jobs, few people to fill (the jobs), and that is causing a bid-up of the salary," McCarthy said.
Callison explained that a new endowed chair position would also receive as supplement to a base salary. Miami hopes this will help give the university an edge over other universities or industry jobs. The supplement typically lasts for five years and also helps support new faculty members' research.
McCarthy said that top-notch research universities such as Northwestern University have an upper hand in recruiting top quality PhD candidates, despite the reputation of the Farmer School of Business, because they can offer better salaries.
"(There will be) better quality people in the classroom," McCarthy said. "(They are) more of the leading edge thinkers in the field."
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He said that the money will also help Miami maintain highnational rankings.
Additionally, Callison said Richard and Joyce Farmer have set aside several millions of dollars as matching money. When companies like PricewaterhouseCoopers donate large sums of money, the Farmers match various percentages of those sums to the Farmer School.
Besides establishing the new accounting chair, PricewaterhouseCoopers will continue to provide
scholarships and other programs within the Farmer School, including the ongoing support of Miami's LeaderShape Institute, which is a six-day experience created to build leadership skills in students.
Jay Henderson is a member of the Miami board of trustees as well as a managing partner of the Chicago office of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
"PricewaterhouseCoopers believes in the value of investing in higher education and in the Farmer School, which consistently produces high performing individuals who build successful careers with our firm," Henderson said.
Callison stated that the very solid relationship between Miami and PricewaterhouseCoopers played a large role in their second token of generosity.
"Miami has been one of the top universities that PricewaterhouseCoopers recruits and hires from in the past several years - not just for accounting students, but for several different majors," Callison said. "They are very pleased with the quality of students and see Miami as a good source of employees."
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