Chair aware by Michael Armini October 31, 2022 Share this story Copy Link Link Copied! Email Facebook LinkedIn Twitter WhatsApp Reddit There’s a great scene in the iconic Wood Allen film “Annie Hall” in which Woody’s character, Alvy Singer, is at a Manhattan dinner party with his second wife—a consummate social climber. As they walk around she points to a guy and says, “He has a chair at Princeton.” Referring to another person she adds, “He has a chair at Cornell.” Woody’s character responds with: “Yeah? Two more chairs and they got a dining room set.” When I first heard this line I laughed out loud, but I honestly didn’t know what a “chair” at a university meant. Some sort of status symbol I assumed. Maybe it came with one of those black wooden chairs with the gold painted seal on the back? Last week we were reminded of the importance of faculty chairs—specifically endowed chairs—when trustee and alumnus Alan McKim gave $25 million to Northeastern to establish eight chairs in President Aoun’s name. Generally the way an endowed chair works is that a donor gives funds to be invested in the university’s endowment, and the proceeds from that gift—known as the endowment “pay out”—helps cover the costs of a faculty member’s compensation and, in some cases, related research expenses. These are significant donations. To make the math work, an endowed chair is typically at least a $3 million gift. Because Alan invested $25 million, the eight President Aoun chairs are each endowed with $3.125 million. This is vitally important as we embark on hiring top-tier faculty to fuel the new academic plan. As that scene in “Annie Hall” illustrates, it’s a sign of prestige to hold an endowed chair. And it’s often essential when recruiting academic talent to be able to offer a prospective faculty member a named chair. In the coming years, our deans and department chairs will recruit eight President Aoun chairs, which will further strengthen our “faculty firepower” and support the university’s continued rise in stature and impact. So, three cheers for Alan McKim, who’s not only very successful and very generous, but also the nicest person you will ever meet.