Lloyd Armstrong Jr. Chair

Deadline: No specific deadline.

Award Amount: $50,000/year for 5 years

Directions: Contact Leana Golubchik at leana@usc.edu or (213) 740-0996.

Awarded for a period of five years to attract or retain an outstanding senior faculty member in engineering, natural science, or math and who will also make significant contributions to the WiSE Program goals.

Goal: To increase the representation of women in science and engineering by attracting outstanding senior faculty who will also make significant contributions to the Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) Program goals.

Eligibility: The Lloyd Armstrong, Jr. Chair will be awarded for a period of five years to an outstanding senior faculty in engineering, natural science, or math who will also contribute significantly to WiSE affairs. The Chair will be given as part of the recruitment effort for an outstanding external candidate. The holder of the Lloyd Armstrong, Jr. Chair will be expected to contribute, for example, to the mentoring of younger female faculty. With the help of the WiSE funds, it is hoped that the WiSE activities will enhance the research program of the Chair holder.

As with all WiSE support, the WiSE contribution will be used to embellish and augment offers beyond the regular set-up funds offered by the School. A minimum of $50,000/year for 5 years will be allocated to the Chair holder’s research fund. The use of the remainder of the endowment income will be negotiated between the WiSE Director and the Dean. The endowment funds will not be used to pay regular academic-year salary. They can be used in ways that benefit the Chair holder, such as summer salary, housing assistance, etc.

Selection Process and Criteria: Two criteria will be used: academic excellence and WiSE contributions.

  • Academic excellence. The candidate will satisfy all the criteria of excellence established by the University for endowed Chairs, and will be selected using the same procedures currently in place for selection of senior Chairs.
  • WiSE contributions. The Chair holder is expected to make substantial contributions to the WiSE Program at USC in areas such as: mentoring of faculty, graduate and undergraduate students; establishing new WiSE activities, and participating in the current WiSE program.

The Deans of the Viterbi School of Engineering and the USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences will be notified about the Lloyd Armstrong, Jr. Chair by the Provost. The Deans will be asked to propose suitable external candidates. These candidates should have the strong support of faculty in the appropriate areas/departments. When a potential candidate is first identified, the Dean should contact the Director of the WiSE Program to arrange for senior WiSE faculty to be involved in the process, in order to determine whether the candidate meets the WiSE contributions criteria. The Lloyd Armstrong, Jr. Chair will not be offered without the early involvement of the WiSE leadership in the interview/recruitment process. The WiSE Director, in consultation with senior WiSE faculty, will assess the suitability of the candidate with particular regard to the WiSE contributions criteria, and make a recommendation to the Provost. Upon the Provost’s approval, the Dean may offer the Lloyd Armstrong, Jr. Chair as part of the recruitment package.

2002-Present

  • Hanna Reisler, USC Dornsife, Department of Chemistry