A Timely Honor: Sam Nunn School Chair Funded in 20th Anniversary Year

Posted January 26, 2018

Friends and family of Senator Sam Nunn, Class of 1960 and Honorary Ph.D. 2008, have honored him by funding the Sam Nunn School Chair in International Affairs. This prestigious endowed faculty leadership chair will provide annual discretionary support for the incumbent administrative chair of the School to advance strategic priorities in perpetuity.

Outright and estate gifts from the late John P. Imlay Jr., IM 1959 first ensured that Nunn’s legacy would be firmly rooted at Georgia Tech for the benefit of the Nunn School’s students, faculty, and programs. Others joined the effort early — donors Kim, IMGT 1983, and Tom Noonan, ME 1983; the Arthur Blank Foundation; and the Bank of America Foundation.

In fall 2017 — to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the School’s naming for Senator Nunn — the School received gifts and commitments to fund the chair from Senator Nunn, Joan and Hubert “Herky” Harris, IM 1965, and Carolyn and Earl Shell, BC 1962.

As one of Georgia’s most admired citizens and a respected leader on the state, national, and international stages, Nunn has worked to address the most challenging problems of our time. During his 24-year career as a U.S. senator, he advanced many national security and foreign policy objectives, including co-authoring the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. Today he is co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative and serves as a distinguished professor in the Nunn School.

Nunn has made an indelible mark on international affairs, and his example will continue to inspire generations of students and faculty in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, its home unit, the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, and Georgia Tech who are striving to make a difference in the world.

Subject to Board of Regents consideration and approval, the incumbent Nunn School chair will be the named chair holder.