A $1.5 million estate provision from an alumnus of the University of Vermont will establish a professorship in electrical engineering in the School of Engineering.

The professorship will be named the L. Richard Fisher Professorship in Electrical Engineering after the donor, a retired Silicon Valley sales executive who grew up in Hardwick, Vt., and earned UVM degrees in electrical engineering in 1947 and in business in 1949. Fisher has chosen to start funding for the professorship immediately through his annual giving so that its benefits can begin to be felt during his lifetime.

"We are honored by Richard Fisher’s vision and allocation of $1.5 million for the establishment of a professorship in electrical engineering," says Interim Dean Bernard "Chip" Cole. "This new professorship position will help to enrich students’ educational experience as well as provide new opportunities for faculty collaborative research initiatives.” The first Fisher Professor is expected to be named this spring, Cole said.

Fisher’s commitment builds on an already substantial estate provision for a scholarship fund he created at UVM in 1995. That fund supports Vermont students who want to study engineering at UVM, with preference for students from the Northeast Kingdom.

Fisher established his scholarship fund with an initial gift of $500,000 that he has since grown through annual giving to a current balance of more than $1.7 million. A portion of his annual giving will now also be allocated to build the new professorship in electrical engineering.

Fisher says he’s establishing the professorship and supporting scholarships to help UVM attract and retain high-caliber faculty and students in electrical engineering. “We have to be a leader in technology to maintain our way of life, I believe,” he said.

For further information about giving to UVM, contact the University of Vermont Foundation, 411 Grasse Mount, Burlington VT 05401; 802-656-2010, www.uvmfoundation.org, email foundation@uvm.edu.