UB Establishes A Canada-U.S. Fulbright Chair In Peace Studies With Gift From Alumnus And His Wife

BUFFALO, N.Y. - A gift from a University at Buffalo alumnus has helped UB establish a Canada-U.S. Fulbright Chair in Peace Studies.

J. Stanley Yake and his wife, Barbara Lawton Yake, have given the first part of a three-year gift of $15,000 per year to fund the visiting chair in the Department of Philosophy in UB's College of Arts and Sciences.

The Canada-U.S. Fulbright Commission selected the university to be a part of its new program for visiting chairs, which uses private donations, like the Yakes', and matches them with institutional funds to bring Canadian scholars to American universities.

Yake said he had been considering a donation and this program "gave me the opportunity to enrich the UB philosophy department, hoping that the broad impact and image of peace studies will have a fertile and positive effect on the department." In addition, Yake felt it was a wonderful way to honor the memory of his parents, Clayton F. and Martha Eby Yake, formerly of Scottdale, Pa.

"I wanted to recognize the committed work for peace that Clayton and Martha pursued through the Mennonite communities of both the United States and Canada," he said. "My parents spent their lives dealing with peace of all kinds, from self-identity to concepts of community to public policy in international relations."

John T. Kearns, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy, noted: "We are extremely grateful for this gift that brings us a visiting Canadian scholar to lecture, teach, and do research that complements current UB faculty research in the area of non-violence.

"I think of it as an unexpected bonus," he added, "because with this gift, we can provide something we can't normally offer to our students and faculty."

Kearns said the program is designed to have one visiting scholar per year and that he expects the first scholar to be selected and on campus for the 2000/2001 academic year.

Conceived in 1946 and funded by Congress, the Fulbright Program was the U.S. government's flagship international educational exchange program and was designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries.

In 1990, the Foundation for Educational Exchange Between Canada and the United States announced the Canada-U.S. Fulbright Program to oversee Canada's participation in the worldwide Fulbright program. Its mandate is to identify the best scholars in each country and to engage them in exchanges consistent with the highest standards of the Fulbright Program. By becoming Fulbright Scholars for a year, teaching or doing research in different scholarly communities, faculty members become personally reinvigorated and professionally stimulated.

The program has grown through the years with private philanthropy and now includes recent initiatives like this visiting chair program using annual gifts that traditionally are less than those to fund endowed chairs. This is possible because the private donation, matched by the host institution, is given to a visiting scholar who also receives his sabbatical pay.

Yake, who received both master's and docotral degrees in philosophy from UB, is an adjunct professor in philosophy at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, Mass. He and his wife live in Rexford.

For information on how you can support the University at Buffalo, go to http://www.buffalo.edu/giving.