Support Our Faculty

Modernize Our Teaching and Research Space

Engineering education is changing. Our faculty are designing classes with more group and project work, the innovative use of technology and hands-on experiences that excite and motivate our students and prepare them to be leaders in industry and academia. Our reputation as the top program demands that our teaching and research spaces evolve accordingly. Contributions to the CEE Modernization Plan will help create state-of-the-art laboratories, classrooms and collaborative space. To help fund the modernization plan, make a gift now or contact us for more information on how you can contribute.

Named Gifts

Endowed gifts support faculty, students, and academic programs in perpetuity, as the principal of the fund is never used. As named funds, they are legacies to your generosity or to whomever you wish to honor. 

Chairs and Professorships: Fueling Research Innovation

Faculty who are named to endowed professorships and chairs receive a significant career honor that also elevates the stature of the department. The additional stipend they receive frees them to conduct innovative research not covered by traditional funding programs. And who better to freely innovate than the faculty at the nation's number one program - some of the world's foremost experts in their fields.

Out of approximately 50 tenure-track professors, the department has a dozen with named professorships or chairs. Our goal is to increase that number to help us attract and retain top faculty.

To read about how endowed professorships and chairs have directly impacted our faculty, read the stories below.

Bill Spencer

Professor Billie F. Spencer
Nathan M. and Anne M. Newmark Endowed Chair in Civil Engineering

Praveen Kumar

Professor Praveen Kumar
Colonel Harry F. and Frankie M. Lovell Endowed Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Gifts can be given outright, or made over time.  In addition to cash, securities, and real estate, you can support CEE as part of your overall financial, tax, and estate planning with deferred gifts such as bequests, charitable trusts and annuities, pooled income funds, retained life estates, retirement accounts, and life insurance.  We have planned giving advisers who can work with you at no cost to arrange options most suitable to you.

Contact Us

Steven A. Hall
Director of Advancement
2231 Siebel Center
201 N. Goodwin Ave.
Urbana, Illinois 61801
(217) 300-7830
stevhall@illinois.edu