Faculty Fellows continued...

“The days of financial worries not being a part of the University's life, if they ever existed, are gone,” George Hamel said. “So what do we who care about the University of Wisconsin do about it? We can accept lower standards, doing what we can with what we get. Or, if we're going to remain world class, we have to recalibrate how we're going to do that, and private support certainly is a part of that equation.”

Hamel, managing partner of ValueAct Capital in San Francisco, California, had created an opportunities fund for the Department of Communication Arts. “We were surprised how a relatively small amount of money seemingly had such a large impact for these young professors,” he said.

Among the pleasant surprises for the Hamels were thanks in book acknowledgements, as well as cards and e-mails. So when UW Foundation development director Anne Lucke and Dean Sandefur suggested the Faculty Fellows model, which provides professors not only money but also recognition from the college and gives the college a tool to aid in the pressing matter of faculty retention, the Hamels were receptive to the idea.

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