February 15, 2000

Bowling Green, Ky. -- A $500,000 gift from a 1957 Western Kentucky University graduate will be used to create an endowed professorship in the sciences and the Kentucky Academy of Mathematics and Science.

Dr. William M. McCormack said he wanted to "pay back a little" of what he has received from his association with Western. Dr. McCormack is a Bowling Green native who has retired from his radiology practice in Owensboro and in Illinois.

Western will seek matching funds from the Kentucky Regional University Excellence Trust Fund when they become available July 1 to create a $1 million professorship.

"My family has had a close association with Western," Dr. McCormack said, including an uncle who served on Western's Board of Regents and is the namesake of McCormack Hall, one of Western's residence halls.

In the past, the University has been "bereft of endowment funds and this needs to turn around," he said. "I see this as seed money to encourage other people to give, and in my own case, I intend to do more."

Dr. McCormack said his interest is in pre-medicine and also wants the professorship to support the proposed Kentucky Academy for Math and Science at Western. The Kentucky Academy would bring the brightest high school juniors and seniors to campus to complete their final two years. They would take college classes and receive their high school diplomas from the Kentucky Academy and in so doing earn 60 hours of college credit.

The Kentucky Academy would encourage those students to remain in Kentucky, he said.
"The wave of the present is more and more in math and the sciences," Dr. McCormack said.

WKU President Gary Ransdell said the McCormack Professorship will allow Western to attract, support and retain exceptional faculty.

"The foundation for a quality academic experience for students is directly related to the presence of quality faculty in the classroom," he said. "When teachers are providing outstanding instruction for students, the students will find ultimate educational and professional success."

"This commitment will link our outstanding faculty with some of our most excellent students, including those students participating in the proposed Kentucky Academy of Math and Science. The McCormack Professor will provide exceptional leadership and training to future national and world leaders in the sciences. Like Dr. McCormack, many scientific leaders attribute their ultimate success to quality undergraduate teaching."

"We are so appreciative of Dr. McCormack's generous gift and his service to Western," said Tom Hiles, vice president for Development and Alumni Relations at Western. "Dr. McCormack serves as the chair of our investment committee for the WKU Foundation. As chair, he helps us build our endowment. Hence, it is particularly gratifying that he is willing to be a role model encouraging others to invest in Western."