Conrad Prebys Gives $2.5 Million to Endow New SDSU Faculty Position
Local philanthropist makes his second gift to SDSU in less than a year.
When Conrad Prebys gave San Diego State University a $20 million gift earlier this year to support student scholarships, it was only the beginning. Just 10 months later, Prebys and the university have announced a $2.5 million endowment to support a new faculty position in Bio-Medical research.
The Conrad Prebys Chair in Bio-Medical Research will be a newly created faculty position that will join SDSU’s world-class faculty researchers in the area of viromics, which takes a cross-disciplinary approach to learning more about bacteriophages and exploring their potential for medical usage.
The position is intended to be filled by an expert in the genetics of viruses, or viromics, one of the university’s research areas of excellence. This new faculty member will be a teacher-scholar, and will work closely with the Prebys Bio-Medical Research Scholars, students in that field who are recipients of scholarships supported by Prebys’s first gift to the university. They represent a diverse mix of students intending to pursue careers in bio-medical research and bio-medical engineering.
“It gives me great joy, especially at this time of year, to give to the education program at San Diego State University,” Prebys said.
Adding to the momentum
The Conrad Prebys Endowed Chair in Bio-Medical Research is the largest endowed Chair in the history of the university and is a major step toward the university’s goal to be a top national public research university. A national search to fill the position will begin immediately.
Second gift in less than a year
Prebys’s first gift to SDSU was the single largest gift ever made to the university and helped propel The Campaign for SDSU toward its original goal of raising $500 million to support students, faculty, staff and programs. The Campaign for SDSU was extended in October to a new goal of $750 million.
Prebys’s original gift supports hundreds of students each year by providing scholarships for student veterans, and those in bio-medical research, creative and performing arts, Guardian Scholars, entrepreneurship, leadership and the SDSU Honors College.
Prebys is known throughout the San Diego region for his support of such organizations as KPBS, the San Diego Zoo, the Boys and Girls Club and the Old Globe Theater, The La Jolla Music Society, The San Diego Opera, Scripps Mercy Hospital, Scripps Prebys Cardiovascular Center, Sanford/Burnham Medical Research Institute and the Salk Institute.
