Although the University’s endowment has been a bit “huffy” over the past few years, there’s reason to celebrate: the Huffington Foundation, Terry Huffington P’11, P’14, and her family have donated a total of five million dollars to the University, which will fund the creation of an endowed faculty chair for the College of the Environment (COE) and support need-based financial aid scholarships.

President Michael Roth expressed excitement about the donation.

“I spent a lot of time talking to representatives of the Foundation as well as the family,” he said. “They have a strong commitment to environmental science and feel passionately about supporting the priorities of the University, which includes the development of the COE. That was a very happy co-mingling of priorities, and Financial Aid endowment is something really key to our fundraising efforts now. The Huffington family and Foundation really feel strongly that access to higher education is crucial in America, and so they were eager to support us.”

The Huffington Foundation is a philanthropic organization founded by the late Roy M. Huffington, a former U.S. ambassador and oil company owner and executive, and the father of Terry Huffington. The news website Huffington Post also owes its name to the family, having been founded by Arianna Huffington, ex-wife of Terry Huffington’s brother and former Congressman Michael Huffington.

Three million dollars, the portion of the total donation contributed by the foundation, will go toward the creation of the Huffington Foundation Endowed Chair in the COE. The donation will fund the chair’s salary and provide a small research stipend. While this title follows the professor as he or she publishes research and does work for outside agencies, the foundation has no control over who is selected to occupy the position.

Additionally, Terry Huffington and her family donated two million dollars to Wesleyan’s need-based financial aid program.

“I was brought up with the mantra that the most important thing you could do for people is to give them an opportunity to get an education,” Terry Huffington told the Wesleyan Connection. “We welcome the opportunity to support Wesleyan’s efforts to enroll students regardless of their economic circumstances.”

Professor of Economics Gary Yohe will be the first to hold the Huffington Foundation Endowed Chair. Although he is an economics professor, Yohe has been researching environmental issues for over a decade. Yohe was awarded a share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize as a senior member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

“I’m still an economist and do economic work, but most of it is directed toward something that has to do with climate change on the policy side or calibrating damages without adaptation,” Yohe said. “One of the great things about Wesleyan is that you can pursue your interests, wherever they take you.”

Marjorie Dodson ’13, Coordinator of the Environmental Organizer’s Network (EON), expressed support for the creation of the position.

“Wesleyan, if they want to become greener and more sustainable, needs to have more positions in teaching and furthering environmental knowledge as well as becoming more environmental on campus,” she said.

Although the source of Yohe’s salary may be changing, he said he does not think his role in the COE will be altered.

“I don’t think my tasks will change at all,” Yohe said. “This year I’m in the think tank at the College of the Environment, teaching a new course on the Economics of Sustainable Development, and there is a weekly symposium where we get together and compare notes, keep each other up-to-date on what we’re doing.”

Yohe already holds an endowed position as the Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics, but will relinquish that chair in order to assume the Huffington Chair. The Woodhouse/Sysco professorship will pass to another professor appointed by the administration.

Yohe chose to exchange the Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics for the Huffington Foundation Endowed Chair because he sees the Huffington chair as a better fit for him. A professor cannot hold two endowed positions concurrently.

“In as much as I already had an endowed chair, I think [the administration] felt obliged to ask [me if I wanted to take the position],” he said. “It didn’t take very long, a couple of fractions of a second, to decide that was a good thing to do and more descriptive of the stuff that keeps me up at night.”