Local philanthropists Peter and Liz Tower presented Canisius College with a $1 million gift in April to establish the Peter Tower Endowed Professorship and the Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Endowed Scholarship Fund.The professorships will be awarded to faculty members in the college’s Richard J. Wehle School of Business to foster entrepreneurship, innovation and economic development in Western New York, and to provide educational programming at the graduate and undergraduate levels that encourages and prepares students to accomplish these goals. Professorships will be awarded on the basis of competitive applications and will be for a term of up to three years.
“The Canisius community is extremely grateful to Peter and Liz Tower for their tremendous support and generosity,” said Canisius President Rev. Vincent M. Cooke, S.J. “The Towers’ extraordinary kindness will provide many students with the opportunity to earn a Canisius MBA and become leaders in their professions.”
“The Towers’ magnificent gift to the School of Business has garnered a great deal of excitement among the college’s business faculty,” added Antone F. Alber, PhD, dean of the Richard J. Wehle School of Business.
“Several faculty members have already begun the application process for the first professorship, which will be awarded in fall 2007.”
The Peter and Elizabeth Tower Scholarship Fund will provide awards to deserving students in the college’s Master of Business Administration Program, whose tuition and fees are not otherwise covered by an employer’s tuition reimbursement program.