MU Alumnus Honors Wife,

Alma Mater Through Endowed

Written by Jessica Pollard

Contact: Pam Roe
S218 School of Nursing
(573) 884-2690

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April 7 , 2005

COLUMBIA , Mo. ­—In an era of tight budget restrictions and a highly competitive job market, retaining top-quality nursing faculty is a challenge for public universities. Now, thanks to a $100,000 gift to establish an endowed faculty fellowship in medical and surgical nursing, the University of Missouri-Columbia's Sinclair School of Nursing is positioned to retain its best faculty to educate future generations of nurses.

Steve and Sally Alberty Richardson established a faculty fellowship as their contribution to excellence in education at MU. The permanently endowed fund, called the Sally Alberty Richardson Faculty Fellowship in Medical/Surgical Nursing, supports faculty with a focus on ensuring student success.    

"You want students to have outstanding faculty who are conducting research and bringing it back to the classroom," said Rosemary Porter, dean of the Sinclair School of Nursing. "A lot of times, people think that research and teaching are separate, but they're really not. The advantage of having faculty who also conduct cutting-edge research is that before the research results are ever in print, the faculty are in their classrooms teaching it to students."

A 1977 graduate of the College of Business , Steve wanted to give something back to the faculty who made his and his wife's educational experiences so enjoyable. Sally graduated from the School of Nursing in 1978. The couple wanted to support faculty in the School because they felt it was the area in which their gift would make the biggest impact.   

"I've gone through life thinking my wife has made a much greater contribution to the world than I and ought to be recognized," Richardson said. "I wanted this gift to honor her and the college from which she graduated.

The annual distribution from the endowment will be used to support the salary and benefits of the named Fellow.

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