$1 million gift to fund chairs in Pan-African, women's and gender studies
February 23rd, 2005
Carla Wallace addresses a group of about 150 people at a reception in her honor Feb. 22. Guests included Angela Davis, a faculty member at the University of California-Santa Cruz, right; and Anne Braden, longtime Louisville activist, left of Davis.
A $1 million gift to the University of Louisville will go to establish an endowed chair in race, class, gender and sexuality and provide matching funding to support a visiting scholar’s chair in Pan-African studies.
Local activist Carla Wallace, Prospect, Ky., has given $1 million to U of L for the Audre Lorde Endowed Chair in Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality. The chair will be based jointly in the women’s and gender studies department and the Pan-African studies department. Both are in the College of Arts and Sciences.
The gift qualifies for matching money from the state’s Research Challenge Trust Fund, a legislative initiative nicknamed Bucks for Brains that matches state funds with funds raised by universities to help attract and retain outstanding faculty researchers.
“Carla Wallace’s generous gift and the state’s ‘Bucks for Brains’ program will enable the University of Louisville to attract top researchers in these areas of scholarship,” President James Ramsey said. “We appreciate her support and that of others as we continue to build educational excellence at U of L.”
“One of the biggest challenges before us is that people in our nation and the larger world are denied justice based on race, gender, class and sexuality. I think that is incongruous with the kind of society most people want to build,” Wallace said. “I’m expecting this will contribute to a dialogue about looking at the way these issues intersect and about how solutions will come about with people joining across lines of difference.”
Wallace dedicated the chair in author Audre Lorde’s memory to honor her legacy as an activist, scholar and writer.
The $1 million Research Challenge Trust Fund match for the Lorde chair is part of “Our Highest Potential,” a U of L-supported community initiative that links the university’s academic and research strengths with the interests of African Americans.
