URI College of Business Administration launching first endowed professorship in finance

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The University of Rhode Island’s College of Business Administration is launching its first endowed professorship in finance thanks to a pledge of $500,000 from alumnus William H. Eigen.
Eigen, Class of 1990, graduated with an undergraduate finance degree. He also is managing director, founder and CIO for Absolute Return Fixed Income at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, where he manages $26 billion, the university said. His aim in endowing the professorship is to help URI attract and retain outstanding business faculty and help fund teaching, travel and research.
“I just feel so good about the direction the school is heading in, and I want to help in whatever way I can,” Eigen said. “My years at URI helped make me a success, and I just want to give back. It’s as simple as that.”
In higher education, endowed faculty professorships and chairs have become the gold standard for recruiting and retaining the highest caliber faculty, said College of Business Administration Dean Maling Ebrahimpour. Privately supported positions like the William H. Eigen Endowed Professorship in Finance have the capacity to significantly enhance the university’s competitiveness, he said.
“This generous gift from Mr. Eigen creates a unique opportunity for our [business] college to enhance our level of support for our faculty in finance,” said Ebrahimpour. “We strive to be the provider of the highest quality education to our students and this endowment provides a great opportunity to honor our outstanding faculty members who inspire a life-long love of learning in their students.”
Eigen is a member of the College of Business Administration’s advisory council and finance advisory board, and he is in the College’s Hall of Fame. He is a URI Foundation trustee and serves on the URI Foundation’s investment committee.
Jim Hopkins, interim president of the URI Foundation, expressed gratitude for Eigen’s gift.
“We are fortunate at URI to benefit from the generosity of our alumni, like Bill Eigen. His continued involvement and support for his alma mater is translating into a transformational gift to URI that will support College of Business faculty and benefit scores of students, for generations,” he said.

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