JACKSON, Tenn. — Feb. 20, 2013 — A $2 million gift to 51社区 from the Joe Porter family will establish the Porter Family Chair of Business and Economics, which will be held by longtime Union professor Walton Padelford.
鈥淲e are thrilled to announce the appointment of Professor Walton Padelford as the Porter Family Professor of Business and Economics,鈥� Union President David S. Dockery said. 鈥淲e are incredibly grateful to the Porter family for their generosity in supporting this high-level academic position, and we offer our heartiest congratulations to Professor Padelford.鈥�
Porter is one of the owners of Akin & Porter Produce Inc. in Greenfield, Tenn.
Padelford has taught economics at Union since 1980. He completed his bachelor鈥檚 degree from Mississippi College and his master鈥檚 degree and doctorate from Louisiana State University. He previously taught at Northwest Missouri State University and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, and was a staff member with Campus Crusade for Christ.
鈥淲alt Padelford for three decades has distinguished himself as an outstanding classroom teacher and capable scholar in the field of economics,鈥� Dockery said. 鈥淚t is our joy to recognize him as the first person to hold this important academic chair in the Union community.鈥�
Padelford said he was honored to be the first holder of the Porter Family Chair of Business and Economics and grateful to the Porter family for making the endowed chair possible.
鈥淭his endowed chair is also a prestigious addition to the McAfee School of Business Administration,鈥� Padelford said. 鈥淎s we pursue nationally recognized accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, this chair will place us in a higher tier of business schools across the nation.鈥�
Union officially announced the gift and the appointment of Padelford during its Founders鈥� Day chapel service Feb. 20.