ASU Receives $750,000 Gift for Free Market Institute

SAN ANGELO, TX — Angelo State University has received a $750,000 gift from an anonymous donor to benefit the Texas Tech University Free Market Institute at ASU within its Norris-Vincent College of Business.

ASU will earmark $500,000 of the gift to establish a new endowed professorship in the NVCOB - the Christopher L. Culp Professorship Endowment. An endowed professorship is a prestigious academic appointment for the selected faculty member and includes funding to supplement the holder's scholarly research, as well as support student professional development.

The remaining $250,000 of the gift will be utilized for operating support and enhancement of the Free Market Institute's existing programs, including:

• Public Speaker Series - on-campus presentations by noted economists

• Political Economy Reading Program - an extracurricular discussion forum for ASU students emphasizing civil dialogue on issues related to the institute's mission

• Student Research - economics student projects mentored by ASU faculty

• Undergraduate Research Competition - hosted annually by the Association of Private Enterprise Education

"The Free Market Institute is a great partnership between Texas Tech University and Angelo State University," said Dr. Andrew Tiger, dean of the NVCOB. "The monthly speaker series presentations are popular for both Angelo State students and the local community, providing insight into today's complex economy. This gift guarantees that we can continue to bring accomplished economists to San Angelo. The professorship allows us to attract world-class economists as faculty to both teach and provide undergraduate research opportunities for our NVCOB students. I'm excited about this gift's impact on the NVCOB, Angelo State and San Angelo."

The new endowed professorship has been named by the donor in honor of a friend, the late Christopher L. Culp, a highly respected financial economist who passed away in 2020. The founder and managing director of Financial Economics Consulting, Inc., Culp was also a research fellow of Johns Hopkins University's Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health and Study of Business Enterprise, as well as co-director of its "Studies in Applied Finance" working paper series. He received his Ph.D. in financial economics from the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business and was an adjunct faculty member there from 1998-2013. He also held faculty positions at the Swiss Finance Institute and in the Institute for Financial Management at the University of Bern in Switzerland.

"What an outstanding way to honor a friend's memory," said ASU President Ronnie Hawkins Jr. "Christopher Culp's name will now forever be associated with all the distinctive programs, research and community outreach provided by the Free Market Institute and our economics faculty and students. We are proud to have our institute connected with such an eminent figure, and we are incredibly grateful to the donor for enhancing our ability to provide educational opportunities for our students, as well as impactful research to the global community."

The TTU Free Market Institute at ASU does not directly receive funding from any state appropriations to ASU or from student tuition revenue. It was founded in 2019 through funding from a local donor that provided initial programming support and faculty salaries. Since its inception, the institute has made significant contributions in expanding student engagement and advancing the NVCOB's academic and community outreach programs.