Giving opportunities

Investing in the best and brightest

At the heart of any great institution are the people whose vision and talent define it. In the School of Engineering, we seek funding that will enable us to attract and retain world-class engineering scholars and the most promising students.

Faculty support | View»

Being able to recognize faculty with support at various stages in their careers—junior faculty with startup funds, mid-career faculty to applaud outstanding achievements, or senior faculty to reward a body of work over a lifetime—is integral to maintaining the highest quality of educators and researchers.

When faculty members distinguish themselves among Stanford’s outstanding scholars, their contributions must truly be exceptional. The highest honor the university can bestow upon such a member of its faculty is the endowed professorship. At the School of Engineering the honor recognizes the important combination of excellence in research, teaching, and service to the community. Just as the roster of endowed professorship holders stands as an honor roll of the most distinguished faculty members in any generation, the roster of professorship donors is an elite group of farsighted and generous friends who have made enduring contributions to the university’s excellence and independence. Donors may establish professorships in their own names or in the names of others whom they wish to honor, and the professorships will exist in perpetuity. Income from the endowed gifts pays the faculty members’ salaries and associated costs.

Some of the most exciting and innovative teaching at Stanford is done by mid-career faculty members who stretch the boundaries of their disciplines, define new research paradigms, and build the base upon which the school’s reputation will rest in the coming decades. Faculty scholar awards recognize the contributions and promise of these faculty in a way that brings them prestige and encouragement. Gifts endowing faculty scholars strengthen Stanford’s future, enabling the university to attract and retain the brightest emerging faculty members in their fields. Income from faculty scholar endowments pays the holders’ salaries and provides modest stipends to support their research and teaching.

Student support | View»

The university’s mission of excellence in teaching, learning, and research is fully embodied in its graduate students. Fellowships are key to our ability to attract the most talented graduate students. The primary criteria for admission are superior academic achievement and a potential to contribute to the academic and professional communities. The competition, particularly at the PhD level, is intense, and only the top candidates in each department are admitted. Once admitted, the very best students are offered financial support that usually comprises a combination of tuition, stipend, and teaching or research assistantships. In addition, a new fellowship program, modeled on the Stanford Graduate Fellowships in Science and Engineering, awards three-year fellowships to outstanding doctoral students who are pursuing interdisciplinary research. These fellowships provide tuition and stipend support that follows the recipients wherever their research and study takes them, allowing the flexibility to reach beyond departmental boundaries.