Today, February 14, 2014, Houghton will celebrate the endowment of the Horne-Blanchard Chair in Music. This is the first fully endowed chair in Houghton’s 131 year history.
What is an endowed chair? Linda Mills Woolsey, Vice-President of Academic Affairs, explained that by way of funding an endowed chair, “donors have an opportunity to give a gift that will underwrite the salary of a professor” which will establish a perpetual chair of instruction in addition to relieving the college budget. In addition to providing for a faculty member’s salary, “the fund also provides for an extra fund that the professor can use for projects, whether that is their own research or collaborative research with students.”
While Houghton has many partially endowed chairs (such as the Hoselton Chair in Business and Economics, the Moreland Chair in Biology, and the Van Gorden Chair in Communications and Writing) the Horne-Blanchard Chair is the first one that is fully endowed. According to Rick Melson, it takes approximately $1.5 million to fund an endowed chair. The Blanchards have been contributing to this endowment since 1987, when David Blanchard was a member of the Board of Trustees, but the fund had only come to maturity this past fall semester.
The donors, David and Allene Blanchard have been invested in Houghton since Allene Blanchard (nee Horne) matriculated here in 1954. Allene Blanchard, a graduate of 1957 with a degree in applied piano, expressed her own experience as a student here. “I was privileged to have highly qualified instructors in piano and music at Houghton. The value of this teaching and coaching was worth far more than it cost me. It was made affordable for me by the sacrificial service of staff and faculty at Houghton and by financial support from several individuals.” By providing the funding for the Horne-Blanchard chair, Allene Blanchard hopes that it will be a vehicle “to attract first-class talent to Houghton College and to subsidize the cost of this academic pursuit for talented students.”
David and Allene Blanchard have been heavily involved in the business of the college in the years since Allene Blanchard’s graduation. From 1987-2003 (excepting a one-year leave of absence), David Blanchard was a member of the Board of Trustees and served for eight years as the Chair of the Finance Committee and for several years as Chair of the Willard J. Houghton Foundation. As part of his work with the latter organization, David Blanchard was instrumental in developing the Inn at Houghton Creek and bringing in the Subway franchise near the townhouses. In addition, while he was a member of the board, David Blanchard was also “asked to Chair a Capital Campaign. In this campaign, Wilson Greatbatch endowed the School of Music and Masters in Music programs with $15M and we raised a total of about $30M in the Campaign.”
Regarding the endowment, Allene Blanchard said, “”To God be the Glory, that He has enabled us to be able to pass on to others some of His magnanimous Blessings to us.” David Blanchard echoed her statements saying, “We both firmly believe the admonition of Paul in II Corinthians 9: 6-7: ‘Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each person should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.’”
The recipient of the chair is Brandon Johnson, associate professor of vocal music and conducting and director of choral activities, and was chosen particularly for the number and quality of projects that he has been undertaking over the years. Johnson is a tenured faculty member who has been teaching at Houghton for 11 years and has been instrumental in expanding choral activities at Houghton, according to Stephen Plate, director of the Greatbatch School of Music.
Plate “couldn’t be prouder to have the first endowed chair at the Greatbatch School.” Plate also expressed the he was proud to have Johnson as the recipient. “Brandon Johnson represents everything right and he has a great vision for building choral music,” said Plate. Plate concluded by remarking on “what a phenomenal thing this is for this school.”