Longtime SDSU Benefactor/Instructor Establishes Endowment to Honor Fellow Fowler Lecturers
Funding for the endowment from Jeff Glazer totals $1 million and will be matched by a gift from Ron and Alexis Fowler.
Jeff Glazer’s ties to San Diego State University run deep, and he has touched the lives of many students, faculty members, and administrators over the past 40 years.
Glazer began his affiliation as a graduate student in the Fowler College of Business, where he earned his MBA in 1981. Since then, Glazer funded and helped to establish SDSU’s Jeffrey W. Glazer Center for Leadership and Service in 2015 and was honored as the recipient of the Distinguished University Service Award during the 2008 SDSU Alumni Awards of Distinction. He has also served on numerous university boards and committees, including as a board member at The Campanile Foundation, the university’s philanthropic organization.
However, it was Glazer’s career as a finance lecturer — and later, a management lecturer — in the Fowler College of Business for more than four decades that prompted his commitment to honoring some of the college’s best instructors through the Glazer Outstanding Lecturer Fellowship Endowment.
Funding for the endowment will total $1 million and will be matched by a gift from Ron and Alexis Fowler, the namesake of the Fowler College of Business. This is the second gift from the Glazer family to be matched by the Fowlers. Jeff and his wife established the Jeffrey and Lisa Braun Glazer Study Abroad Endowed Scholarship, which provides support for Fowler College of Business students participating in study abroad programs.
Glazer, now retired from teaching at SDSU, established this most recent endowment during fall 2021 to “recognize teaching excellence and service to the students in the Fowler College of Business.”
"The Glazer Outstanding Lecturer Fellowship is a wonderful way to recognize the excellent teaching done by many lecturers in the Fowler College of Business,” said interim Thomas & Evelyn Page Dean George Belch. "Having been a lecturer for many years, Jeff knows the important role these faculty play in teaching our students. We are very grateful to Jeff and Lisa for their generosity and continued support of SDSU."
The five recipients of the inaugural Glazer Outstanding Lecturer Fellowship representing each department within the Fowler College of Business were selected by a panel that included the dean, chairs, and directors within the college. The recipients for the 2021 award are:
- Nancy Jones (accounting)
- Lois Olson (marketing)
- Frank Ryan (finance)
- William Sannwald (management)
- Kelly Shaul (management information systems)
The five fellows were honored during a reception hosted by SDSU President Adela de la Torre on November 4.
Each of the recipients received a commemorative plaque, a salary supplement, and additional funding to support their professional development activities.
“There are approximately 525 lecturers at SDSU and 890 (tenure/tenure track) faculty members, so about 37% (are lecturers), but yet they teach about 58% of the classes,” said Glazer during the reception. He went on to say that many former SDSU students remember their lecturers fondly and were frequently inspired by lecturers who “made a difference in their careers.”
Glazer himself was recognized for his work with SDSU students: in 1997, he was honored by the AssociatedStudents of San Diego State University with the Harvey Goodfriend Award that is given to the faculty member or administrator who has made the most meaningful contribution to the students of SDSU over the course of the past year.
The Glazer Outstanding Lecturer Fellowship will be awarded every one to two years, and nominations for the fellowship can be submitted by SDSU faculty members or SDSU students “because, really, it’s the students that know who the great instructors are,” said Glazer.
