$4.5 million gift from surgeons creates professorships at UVM

A $4.5 million gift from the surgical faculty at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and Fletcher Allen Health Care will fund 14 Green & Gold Professorships in the Department of Surgery and add $1 million to the recently established Frank P Ittleman Professorship in Cardiothoracic Surgery established by a grateful patient earlier this yea. The UVM will publicly announce the gift Thursday at 2:15 pm at the Davis Center.
The funding was made possible by monies set aside by surgical faculty members over the years and is intended to attract and retain outstanding faculty members to the College of Medicine. The surgery faculty also hope their commitment will contribute to a growing culture of philanthropy in the department by providing a special incentive for others to give.
The faculty have not attached names to the Green and Gold professorships they are establishing and instead will leave the naming opportunity available to other donors who make contributions that elevate the Green and Gold professorship to full professorships. A full professorship at UVM, named after the donor, would usually require a $1 million donation.
These Green & Gold Professorships, which require a minimum contribution of $250,000, make it possible for a donor to establish a named endowed faculty position with a contribution of $750,000, closing the gap between the Green & Gold and a full professorship.
The goal for the Ittleman Professorship, established with a $1 million gift from an anonymous donor, is to bring it to the required $3 million endowment level needed to elevate it to the status of a full chair. The surgical faculty’s $1 million gift brings the Ittleman endowment to within $600,000 of achieving its goal.
UVM 10.2.2013