---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: [Smlr_smlr] Historic News
From: "Joanne Mangels" <jmangels(a)smlr.rutgers.edu>
Date: Sat, December 6, 2008 8:22 am
To: smlr_smlr(a)email.rutgers.edu
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From: David Finegold [mailto:dfinegold@smlr.rutgers.edu]
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 10:11 PM
To: 'faculty(a)smlr.rutgers.edu'; 'staff(a)smlr.rutgers.edu'
Subject: Historic News
I'm delighted to report that in the midst of these challenging economic
times, today we received a signed commitment for the largest gift in SMLR's
history, to create the School's first endowed professorship. The
Foundation for Enterprise Development (FED) has committed $2M to establish
the J. Robert Beyster Professorship of Employee Ownership at the School of
Management and Labor Relations. This gift is a testament to the unparalleled
excellence of SMLR faculty in this field.
The J. Robert Beyster Professorship is the first chair focused on the study
of Employee Ownership in the world. This gift is a great stride in raising
the profile of our School and positioning us as the global leader in the
study of people, organizations and the changing employment relationship. A
gift like this supports SMLR's goal to attract and retain top faculty and
outstanding graduate students to work with them.
The FED was founded by Dr. Beyster, who is the founder and former
Chairman/CEO of SAIC, an employee owned government defense contractor. The
foundation is run by Dr. Beyster's daughter, Mary Ann Beyster. The gift
will be paid in three installments over the next 24 months; below is the
"Statement of Donor Intent" from the agreement. An endowed professorship is
one of the highest honors a University can bestow, and is reserved for an
eminent scholar whose work and research significantly advances the
discipline. The endowed term professorship brings a new level of prestige
and achievement to SMLR. The process for selecting the first Beyster
Professor will begin in the fall of 2010 just before the endowment is fully
funded by the FED. The professor will be appointed for a renewable 5-year
term.
Dr. Beyster first expressed interest in the work of Rutgers researchers in
the late eighties. Over the years he has generously supported the ongoing
research work of Professor Joseph Blasi and Professor Douglas Kruse at SMLR
with grants. For example, the Foundation for Enterprise Development provided
grants to support the research that led to the book The New Owners by Blasi
and Kruse (HarperCollins 1991) that first uncovered and examined the
phenomenon of employee ownership in publicly-traded corporations. The
Foundation also provided grants to support the research that led to In the
Company of Owners by Blasi, Kruse, and former Business Week Associate editor
Aaron Bernstein (Basic Books, 2003) that studied the role of employee
ownership and broad-based stock options in developing innovations among 100
largest high technology companies that developed and sell on the Internet.
The Foundation has supported SMLR's initiative to create objective measures
of the incidence of employee ownership, profit sharing, gain sharing, and
broad-based stock options for the U.S. economy. In 2008 the Foundation
created the Beyster Fellowship Program at SMLR that supports young scholars
in the area through a visiting professorship, a post-doctoral fellowship,
and graduate fellowships.
We will be having a small toast at the end of our Faculty Meeting at 11.45
on December 12th to celebrate this special milestone and thank all those who
made it possible. I hope all faculty and staff will be able to join us.
Have a great weekend.
Yours,
David
Statement of Donor Intent for the "J. Robert Beyster Professorship of
Employee Ownership"
The Foundation for Enterprise Development proposes to establish the J.
Robert Beyster Professorship of Employee Ownership at Rutgers University's
School of Management and Labor Relations ("SMLR") with an endowment of $2
million. The J. Robert Beyster Professorship would be held by a scholar who
is widely recognized as a world leader in the field of employee ownership
("EO"). S/he should have done extensive work on a range of EO topics such as
the use of stock grants and/or options, profit- or gain-sharing, and the
relationship between these practices and individual and organizational
outcomes. S/he would devote the principal amount of his or her time to
research and teaching and public service on employee ownership issues. The
J. Robert Beyster Professor would develop and teach undergraduate and
graduate-level elective courses at Rutgers focused on EO issues. S/he would
also serve as an intellectual leader and mentor for the Beyster fellows
working on employee ownership issues both at Rutgers and other leading
academic institutions. The goal is to establish Rutgers as a central node
for the network of EO researchers and practitioners across the US. This will
take advantage of Rutgers close proximity to other leading East Coast
research universities as well as to policymakers in Washington, D.C., and
the leading U.S. financial center in New York.
--
Eugene McElroy
Rutgers University
School of Management and Labor Relations Library
50 Labor Center Way
New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901
732-932-9513
tel: 732-932-9513
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