Faculty Excellence & Research Infrastructure
Endowed chairs and professorships, faculty fellowships and targeted research support accelerate discovery and amplify real-world impact.
Donor investment in top talent and research infrastructure fueled faculty excellence—advancing and elevating teaching and strengthening Leeds’ voice in business research across disciplines. New investments in endowed faculty positions created opportunities for one new chair, four professorships and six fellowships across disciplines at Leeds.
By the Numbers (FY25 — Faculty Research & Support)
Total Faculty Support Raised
$16.5M
Faculty Chairs
$3.3M
Professorships & Fellowships
$8.7M
Including teaching professorship
Additional Research Support
$4.4M
Faculty research support, teaching & research, faculty award
New Faculty Scholars
7 added
25 total active scholars
New Endowed Faculty Positions
This year, Leeds strengthened its academic stature with 11 newly endowed faculty positions—including 1 chair, 4 professorships, and 6 fellowships. Each of these gifts creates permanent, flexible resources that enable faculty to advance research, mentor students, and bring national visibility to Leeds’ expertise.
Endowed positions are widely considered the gold standard for academic excellence—critical for recruiting and retaining top scholars who might otherwise be drawn to peer schools with larger endowment portfolios. By expanding our roster of endowed faculty, Leeds signals to the national market that it is a place where premier business faculty can thrive, supported by donors who believe in the long game of ideas, discovery, and leadership development.
These positions are already enhancing Leeds’ visibility: endowed faculty have the capacity to lead high-impact projects, publish in leading journals, and mentor doctoral students who will shape the next generation of business scholars. With these new chairs, professorships, and fellowships, Leeds takes another step toward parity with elite peers and positions itself as a destination for talent, innovation, and thought leadership.
Faculty Scholars
Since its launch in fall 2023, the Faculty Scholars program has recognized 26 Leeds faculty whose teaching and research excellence are amplified by donor support. These competitive, donor-funded awards fuel innovation across classrooms and research labs—supporting everything from data sets and research assistants to curriculum redesign and experiential learning.
Faculty Scholars are advancing both scholarship and student learning. Their work appears in top journals such as MIS Quarterly, Journal of Finance, and PNAS, while transforming how students experience business education. Scholars have launched new courses in sustainability and ESG reporting, built AI-integrated curricula for the digital economy, and used virtual reality to help students build public-speaking confidence. Many also employ student research assistants, expand peer tutoring, and mentor undergraduate and doctoral researchers—ensuring philanthropy directly enhances student success.
At Leeds, Faculty Scholar awards spark a continuous cycle of excellence—recognizing outstanding educators and researchers, empowering them to pursue bold ideas, and translating those ideas into high-impact learning experiences. With 25 active scholars and growing, these designations strengthen the school’s culture of academic excellence, innovation, and impact—demonstrating how donor partnership fuels both discovery and education.
Donor-funded Faculty Scholar designations are already converting support into visible outcomes—e.g., David Dobolyi reports a new MIS Quarterly acceptance and a PNAS paper enabled by Scholar-funded GPU resources, and Emily Gallagher details policy-relevant finance research alongside expanded student support—illustrating how these awards boost productivity, visibility and student impact.
Faculty Talent
In Academic Year 2024–25, Leeds welcomed 44 new faculty members, doubling down on its commitment to excellence and innovation. These scholars join us from top institutions like Yale, Boston College, and the University of Illinois, bringing expertise in areas such as AI & machine learning, sustainable finance, public policy, and cross-cultural leadership.
Their arrival expands Leeds’ ability to broaden course offerings, intensify research collaboration, and elevate Leeds’ national profile as a destination for top faculty and engaged scholars.
New Endowed Faculty Awards (starting Academic Year 2025-26)
Michael A. Klump Endowed Chair
Michael A. Klump Endowed Professorship
New Appointed Standing Endowed Faculty Awards
William H. Baughn Professor of Finance
W.W. Reynolds Capital Markets Endowed Chair
Raymond and Dorothy Joyce Chair in Entrepreneurship
Awards & Honors (May 2025)
Lev Szentkirályi, Assistant Teaching Professor, Social Responsibility & Sustainability. Recognized for reinventing his teaching and engaging students in applied ethics.
Matthew Brady (Assistant Teaching Professor, OLIA). Courses emphasize entrepreneurial thinking, low-code/AI classroom use; founder of hands-on opportunities like the Sustainability Hackathon and Boulder Founder Summit. Runner-up: Sina Khoshsokhan (Strategy & Entrepreneurship).
Yonca Ertimur (Tandean Rustandy Esteemed Professor), honored for dedication to excellence and impact; former senior associate dean for faculty, and Accounting Division chair.
Research Accolade
#31
UT Dallas Top 100 Business School Research Rankings (2025): Leeds ranked No. 31 in North America and No. 39 worldwide. This places Leeds among the most research-active business schools, reflecting sustained faculty productivity in elite journals tracked by UTD and strengthening our ability to attract top faculty, doctoral talent, and competitive funding.