Commerzbank Stiftung Funds IUB’s First Sponsored Professorship

[ Dec 19, 2000]  At a ceremony today in the Bremen Central Branch of the Commerzbank, Mr. Hans-Peter Finger announced the establishment at International University Bremen of the "Commerzbank Chair of Information Management," which will be funded by a grant from the Commerzbank Stiftung. Mr. Finger is the Director of the Commerzbank Bremen. By the terms of this naming gift, a professor will be appointed by IUB and supported for a period of five years through a donation to IUB of DM 1.5 million, beginning fall 2001.

Also present at the ceremony was Dr. Christoph Uhsadel, Director of the Commerzbank Stiftung in Frankfurt (Main). Dr. Uhsadel announced that, in addition to the gift from the Commerzbank Stiftung, the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft, an umbrella organization for German private foundations in support of higher education and research, has agreed to supplement the gift of the Commerzbank Stiftung with an annual gift of DM 30,000 for the five-year duration of the funding.

The creation of the Commerzbank Chair of Information Management is particularly noteworthy since it is the first named academic chair at the newly founded International University Bremen. Commenting on the gift, IUB President Fritz Schaumann stated, " We are indeed pleased to accept these gifts as further evidence of the up-welling of support that we have experienced over the course of the last two years for IUB. It is particularly gratifying that this first named chair at IUB is within the field of information management, which is not only one of the most important areas of growth within the German and European economic orbit, but also an area in which IUB has staked a claim for excellence in instruction and applied research."