Hampden-Sydney students often point to the quality of their professors and the valuable, engaging curriculum as key aspects of the College’s academic experience. Over the last few years, an alumnus and his spouse—inspired by appreciation for his Hampden-Sydney education and a passion for science—have made impactful investments to expand the breadth of opportunities available to students.
Thanks to gifts now totaling well over $1 million, these donors, who wish to remain anonymous, have established and endowed the James E. Hansen Professorship in Environmental Science, enabling Hampden-Sydney students to explore an emerging scientific discipline under the guidance of an exceptional faculty member. Motivated by the donors’ concern for the environment and climate change, the professorship honors the legacy and life’s work of Dr. James E. Hansen, formerly Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and now Professor at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, where he directs a program in Climate Science, Awareness, and Solutions. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1996. Dr. Hansen is best known for his congressional testimony identifying climate change and its potential impacts in the 1980s. Since then, he has worked tirelessly to raise awareness about global warming.
Our anonymous benefactors’ most recent gifts build on many years of philanthropic support. They previously established an endowed scholarship in honor of G. Tyler Miller, Jr., a former Hampden-Sydney College chemistry professor.
“The donors have generously funded Hampden-Sydney’s two highest priorities—the College’s academic program and educational mission, and access to the benefits of a Hampden-Sydney education for talented young men,” said President Larry Stimpert. “We are grateful for their generosity and their dedicated support of the College. This new professorship in Environmental Science will strengthen our College’s commitment to one of the most important interdisciplinary fields in science.”
The inaugural holder of the James E. Hansen Professorship is Scott M. Starr. Dr. Starr obtained his Ph.D. at Texas Tech University, where his dissertation research focused on the effects of land use and climate change on wetlands environments. Dr. Starr received his M.S. from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa and his B.S. from Millersville University of Pennsylvania.