Penn State Intercom......October 18, 2001

Alumni couple gives $3 million
to support Eberly and Smeal colleges

By Laura Stocker
University Relations

Alumni Ronald R. and Judith Loftin Davenport of Pittsburgh have committed $3 million to be distributed equally between the Eberly College of Science and The Smeal College of Business Administration. Their gift will endow a faculty chair in each college.

Ronald Davenport is chairman and chief executive officer of Sheridan Broadcasting Corp., which owns radio stations in Pittsburgh and Buffalo and a radio network with more than 300 affiliates in 39 states. It is the largest African-American-owned communications network in the United States. Judith Davenport is a dentist, and co-founder and director of Sheridan Broadcasting Corp.

The Ronald Ross Davenport and Judith Loftin Davenport Chair in The Smeal College of Business Administration will be established in the area of marketing or finance. The Judith Loftin Davenport and Ronald Ross Davenport Chair in the Eberly College of Science will be established in the area of biological science.

The chairs will be used to attract and retain world class scholars to these appointments. Income from the endowments can be used for, but is not limited to, such purposes as salary supplements, research expenses, graduate assistantships, education and travel expenses, and support services for the chairs' holders and their programs.

After graduating from Penn State in 1958 with a bachelor's degree in business administration, Ronald Davenport went on to earn law degrees from Temple and Yale. In 1970, he was named dean of Duquesne University School of Law -- one of the youngest law school deans in the country and the first African-American law dean at a predominantly white law school. After 10 years as dean, he spent two years as a partner with Buchanan Ingersoll before assuming the helm at Sheridan Broadcasting.

Judith Davenport earned her bachelor's degree from Penn State in 1961 in medical technology. She received a graduate degree in public health and a doctorate in dental medicine from the University of Pittsburgh. She has served on many professional and civic boards. She was honored by Penn State as a Distinguished Alumna in 1995 and an Alumni Fellow in 2001.

In previous philanthropy to Penn State, the Davenports endowed two undergraduate scholarships for minority students who have an interest in the sciences and in business. They also were major benefactors in the campaign to build the new Paul Robeson Cultural Center and to expand the Hetzel Union Building on the University Park campus.

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