$1 million given to UW-Stevens Point
Gift will endow faculty position
A $1 million gift to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point will establish an endowment to support research, outreach and other activities of a professor in the school’s wildlife management program, the university announced Wednesday.
Endowed professorships and faculty chairs are viewed across the country — and especially at public universities with tight budgets — as crucial for recruiting and retaining top faculty because they enhance salaries and support research, including funding graduate students. This will be UW-Stevens Point’s fifth endowed faculty position; three of the five are in the nationally known College of Natural Resources.
The gift from Gerald and Helen Stephens of Peoria, Ill., to create the Gerald and Helen Stephens Professorship in Wildlife is their second endowment supporting a faculty position in memory of their son Douglas, who earned his bachelor’s degree at UW-Stevens Point in 1991 and died less than a year later when he collapsed while leading his student research team in search of a hidden black bear den in northern Wisconsin. The Stephenses also have established endowment funds in their son’s name to support student research and scholarships in wildlife.
Three years ago, the Stephenses gave $2 million to help create the Douglas R. Stephens Chair in Wildlife — a new faculty position in the College of Natural Resources. That gift allowed the university to launch a national search and hire its top pick for the post.
In 2015, another new faculty position was created and a national search was launched by the College of Natural Resources through gifts totaling $2 million from James C. Kennedy of Atlanta, Ga., and David F. Grohne of Wilmington, Ill., for the Kennedy-Grohne Endowed Chair in Waterfowl and Wetlands Conservation.
“All of this creates a national center of interest,” said Christine Thomas, dean of the College of Natural Resources at UW-Stevens Point. “Out there in the world, your program is seen as vibrant, growing and hopefully a place that up-and-comers want to be associated with. It’s a really good spot to be in.”
The newest endowed position, the Gerald and Helen Stephens Professorship in Wildlife, will go to Jason Riddle, associate professor of wildlife ecology and a faculty member at UW-Stevens Point since 2009.
Riddle is president of the state chapter of The Wildlife Society and adviser of the UWStevens Point student chapter of The Wildlife Society and has done pheasant, grouse and quail research, Thomas said. “He’s a professor poised for the national arena, and we wanted to be able to keep him.”