Distinguished Professors

About Honorifics

One of the strategic goals of LSU is to attract, retain, develop, and support excellent faculty. To meet this goal, LSU continues to recognize and reward outstanding faculty members for their accomplishments with chairs, professorships and awards generically know as honorifics. This recognition includes additional monetary consideration, as well as publicity for their achievements.

LSU’s distinguished chairs and professors bring to the University a wealth of experience and knowledge. Their reputations are international and their expertise is of unquestionable value in the classroom and research lab.

Designated Honorifics

Designated honorifics are those chairs and professorships supported from University funds or from annual gifts for these purposes and, under terms set by the LSU Board of Supervisors, where there is no endowed support.

Endowed Honorifics

One way LSU secures additional funding to support outstanding faculty members is through endowed professorships and chairs. These new dollars are used to advance their scholarship and research programs. LSU’s approximately 43 endowed chairs and 253 endowed professorships assist in recruiting top scholars and researchers to the University. Each endowed chair is worth at least $1 million and each endowed professorship is worth at least $100,000. The endowments are created through partnerships between donors and the state of Louisiana. To establish a new endowment, LSU must raise at least 60 percent of the cost through donations. The state then provides a 40 percent match through grants from the Louisiana Board of Regents. Interested donors can contact the LSU Foundation for more information.