Hawkins donation honors former law school dean
The donation of a new faculty chair aims to improve the program.
Published Sept. 15, 2008
The School of Law surpassed its fundraising goal on Friday after receiving a $1.1 million donation to fund a new faculty chair.
MU graduate Robert Hawkins and his wife, Elizabeth Hunter Hawkins, named the chair in honor of Hawkins' friend and colleague, law school dean emeritus Dale Whitman.
"This will be to establish our first endowed chair here at the law school, so it will support a faculty member who is distinguished," law school dean Lawrence Dessem said.
Hawkins said he hopes his donation will make it possible for the law school to bring a professor of national stature in to teach the two subjects of real estate and real estate finance.
Property law is a crucial and yet underrated subject of law, said professor Dennis Crouch, who specializes in property law.
"Property law serves as one of the core foundations of American society," he said. "Many of our students actually go out and practice property law after they graduate."
Crouch said the gift will help students learn one of the more applicable practices of law.
The new chair will also benefit the students by lowering the student to faculty ratio, as well as giving the law school more credibility and national clout.
"This will make us more competitive in terms of attracting and retaining the very finest faculty," Dessem said. "This gift will make it easier for us to raise additional gifts because we can point to what Bob and Elizabeth Hawkins did."
The chair was named for Whitman, who taught at many law schools and served as the law school dean at MU from 1982 to 1988. Whitman, who served as president of the Association of American Law Schools in 2002, is one of the foremost authorities on property law in the nation, UM system President Gary Forsee said. "He had the ability to bring people together and lead them," said Hawkins, who knew Whitman while he was dean and worked with him while he was campaigning to construct Hulston Hall, the current location of the law school. Because of Whitman's passion for property law, the new chairperson of the law school will teach property law.
"Dale Whitman is somebody who has taught at many law schools and could teach at any law school in America, and to have somebody of that caliber here at the University of Missouri is a tremendous advantage to our students," Dessem said.
The law school had originally set its fundraising goal at $17 million, and Hawkins' donation puts raised funds now at more than $18 million.
"The majority (of the $18 million) will go to student scholarships, then a significant portion will go towards faculty," Dessem said.
The money will also help start new programs for law students, because none of the money has to go towards building new facilities.
