Last week, film star Jane Fonda donated an impressive $12.5 million to the Graduate School of Education to endow a professorship in the name of Graham Professor of Gender Studies Carol Gilligan. The professorship is meant to be filled by an academic who will study the effect of gender on childrens' development and learning--Gilligan's area of expertise. We have sorely missed a professor devoted to this area, as Gilligan has spent much of the past few years teaching at New York University as a visiting professor. This endowed professorship, however, will ensure that Harvard will always boast a faculty member devoted to issues of gender and child development.

Harvard does not always rely upon the kindness of strangers--many of its donors are alumni--but we warmly welcome Fonda's philanthropic gift. It is the largest gift that the Graduate School of Education has received in its 80-year history, and we hope that the new Center for Gender and Education that the gift creates will put the school of education at the forefront of the field. Studying the learning patterns of boys and girls can only help teachers adapt to them and improve education for all. We appreciate her gift and hope that the University will quickly find a qualified and dynamic professor to fill the chair.

The one negative consequence of Fonda's generous gift is that Gilligan now feels she can officially leave Harvard's faculty because there is a guarantee that her field of study at Harvard will be pursued by others. The University has missed Gilligan and her contributions to the faculty and her students, and we hope that the school of education will find a professor as talented as she to take on the professorship in Gilligan's name.