$3 million gift marks bright future for Chapman’s innovative Mathematics, Philosophy and Physics program
In addition to the $3 million gift from Parker S. Kennedy, three Chapman professors have been given endowed chairs to further shape the prospective future of the MPP program. Pictured: (From left) Marco Panza, Andrew Jordan and Ahmed Sebbar stand next to unveiled busts. Photo courtesy of Adam Hemmingway
On Jan. 31, three Chapman University professors were given a chair in the university’s new Mathematics, Philosophy and Physics (MPP) program.
Each of the professors and their endowed chairs, which are honorary positions established by the donations that may allow for more scholarships and other benefits to be leveraged for the MPP program, corresponded with one of the three core principles of the program: mathematics, philosophy and physics. In addition, the endowments were paired with a $3 million gift from Chapman Board of Trustees Chair Parker S. Kennedy.
The first chair donated was the Daniele C. Struppa Chair in Mathematics, granted to Ahmed Sebbar, a professor in the Schmid College of Science and Technology. President Struppa said in a Jan. 31 press release he was “delighted and moved” by the fact that a chair was named after him, along with it being given to Sebbar, whom Struppa is said to have known since 1982.
“Receiving this endowment and the Daniele C. Struppa Chair in Mathematics is a great honor and at the same time a big encouragement for me,” Sebbar told The Panther. “I am happy and remain humble. I would like to thank the generous donors and those who nominated me and decided to award it to me. I would also like to thank those who supported me at various stages of my career, my teachers, my students and my family.”
The second chair was the Kennedy Chair in Philosophy, granted to Marco Panza, another Schmid College professor who teaches both philosophy and mathematics. In addition, Panza is the program director and co-founder of the MPP program.
“I consider it a great honor. I'm fully grateful to Parker Kennedy and to the leadership of Chapman University and Schmid College for giving me this honor. But, I'm also worried since I'm not sure I'll be able to live up to it,” Panza said in an interview with The Panther. “What I'm sure of is that living up to it would mean using the (material and symbolic) advantages of this honor for the intellectual growth of the Chapman community. It is not what it’ll do for me that will count, but what it’ll be able to do for Chapman: for contributing to make it a great and prestigious university.”
The final chair was the Kennedy Chair in Physics given to Andrew Jordan, the co-director of the Institute for Quantum Studies and a physics professor at Chapman.
“I want to thank Mr. Kennedy for the very generous donation and President Struppa for his leadership, vision and for valuing the importance of physics,” Jordan said in an interview with The Panther. “And, (thank you) to our great university administration for supporting our work. It is a great honor.”
The $3 million donation from Kennedy comes as part of a larger gift he is bestowing to the university, totaling $15 million. The majority of the proceeds, $11 million in total, went to the Fowler School of Law, while an extra million was donated to Chapman Athletics on Oct. 20 of last year.
“(The MPP program) is a unique program,” Jordan told The Panther. “I know of nothing else like it in the world. The intentional interdisciplinary in the formation of students will add breadth to their education while still keeping the intensive discipline-specific nature of their research and dissertation.”
Jordan, Sebbar and Panza unilaterally stated that their endowments were essential to getting the MPP program off the ground.
Panza had the following to say to Jordan and Sebbar: “And what I ask to my colleagues is to help me in this, with their energy and intelligence, and also, and overall, with their criticisms; [and] to explain to me in time when it will be the moment to step aside.”
“MPP is at an initial and largely experimental phase. In the first six months of its activity, it did a lot of good things, but we also made many errors that we had to correct. It is in my nature of never being fully satisfied with what I achieve. I believe in any case that we are offering a model and an example to the whole university of a program whose fundamental (and possibly unique) aim is scientific excellence: that of the students and that of the teachers, but overall that of both as scholars.”
The MPP program is a three-year-long research doctoral program that confers the equivalent of a Ph.D. degree. Intended for post-master’s education, it focuses on the connections between mathematics, philosophy and physics. In turn, it focuses not only on all three of these subjects, but also how they connect with and influence each other.
“MPP is a new program,” Sebbar said. “Many people are dedicated to this project and spare no effort to ensure its success. This program has a bright future and will most certainly expand to include other disciplines.”
Students who successfully complete the MPP program will be awarded a Doctor of Science degree, which is recognized as a Ph.D. equivalent in academia and in the job sector. The overall workload is 54 credits, but it is still relatively small due to the program’s unique structure of combining three different disciplines.
“The endowed chairs and the gift for student support will give lasting stability to the program. It is a critical next step for Chapman to grow and mature its graduate education and research efforts, and this gift will greatly boost that project.”