Personal Giving Stories
Christiansens give $500,000 for professorship establishing the Christiansen Collegiate Professorship
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The School of Dentistry's portion of The Michigan Difference campaign is off to an impressive start with a generous gift from Dean Emeritus, Dr. Richard L. Christiansen, and his wife, Nancy.
The Christiansen's have gifted $500,000 to the School to establish the Christiansen Collegiate Professorship.
Dean of the School from 1982 to 1987, Christiansen retired as professor of dentistry in the Department of Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry in 2001.
Christiansen said he and Nancy made the gift "because of the character and quality of the people here-faculty, students, and staff-as well as alumni. That's probably the best way to evaluate the School's future potential."
Also influencing his decision, he said, "were the discoveries and contributions produced here that will serve society tomorrow."
Reflecting on a career that spanned nearly twenty years at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and more than twenty years at U-M, Christiansen said, "it was natural for me to support a collegiate professorship at Michigan that would combine the two, craniofacial research and education."
Idea's Origins
"My idea for this gift to the School of Dentistry was probably a quarter of a century in the making," he said.
"I remember how impressed I was back in the early- to mid-1970s, when I headed the National Institute of Dental Research's Craniofacial Anomalies Program, with the studies that were being done here by many faculty members," Christiansen said.
During his career at NIDCR that began in 1964, Christiansen served as a staff orthodontist and principal investigator in the Oral Medicine and Surgery Branch. Later, he was Director of Extramural Programs before becoming Dean of the School of Dentistry.
One of Christiansen's top priorities upon arriving in Ann Arbor in 1982 was to establish endowed professorships that would help the School recruit and retain highly-qualified faculty.
"Even then, there were clear signals that we wouldn't be able to rely on the same levels of state funding in the future as we had in the past," he said. "So when Dr. Robert Browne made the first commitment and several others later made gifts to the School to create endowed professorships, I began thinking of ways I could personally contribute at a later date."
Planning for the Future
As the ninth of eleven children and the first to graduate with a college degree, Christiansen said he already knew about living frugally and planning for the future. He recalled the words of American businessman and statesman, Bernard Baruch: "The greatest blessing of our democracy is freedom, but in the last analysis, our only freedom is the freedom to discipline ourselves."
Discipline, Christiansen said, was a part of his upbringing when he was growing up in Iowa. "Later in life, I combined discipline with a 'fun hobby,' namely, stock investing, and, with modest successes, we were able to give serious consideration to making this gift."
Before making his gift, Christiansen said he and Nancy wanted to achieve several objectives.
One was to effectively utilize the family's assets without jeopardizing the needs of their children or what they would need for their retirement. Another was to target how the gift would be used.
As he reflected on his experiences in Iowa, at NIDCR, and Michigan, Christiansen said establishing a professorship was most appropriate.
"Considering the state's changing budget and what that means for public universities like Michigan, the need for endowed professorships is greater today than in recent history," he said. "I believe it will become even more important in the future."
"The joy of giving matches the joy of receiving. Nancy and I have been blessed over the years, and we wanted this professorship to be our way of giving back to a great school, a great University, and a great profession," Christiansen said.
Saying that "previous generations have progressed because of the contributions of their predecessors, the challenge to keep advancing never ends," he said. "I think those of us who are able, should do what we can to make sure excellence and discovery continue."
The Christiansens made their gift as charitable remainder trust.
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