Former student and current emeritus professor Eric Shaw has pledged to donate over $2 million to the university to help athletics, business, arts and letters programs, and more. Shaw is retired, but the university honored him by allowing him to keep the title of emeritus. This is the largest donation from a faculty or staff member since former assistant professor Dick Schmidt in 1971. 

This donation will help FAU create new awards and endowments for students such as:

• Eric H. Shaw Student-Athlete Excellence in Academic Performance Award
• Eric H. Shaw – FAU Wave Excellence in Innovation Award
• Eric H. Shaw 3MT® Championship Award Endowment Fund
• Hersker, Shaw, Gosser Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi Scholarship Award
• Eric H. Shaw OURI Symposium Excellence Award
• Eric H. Shaw Concerto and Aria Excellence in Performance Award
• Eric H. Shaw Veterans Florida Entrepreneurial Excellence Award
• Eric H. Shaw Ph.D. in Business Dissertation Award

Shaw earned a B.B.A. degree in 1972 and an M.B.A. in 1973 from the College of Business. He then attended Temple University to earn his Ph.D. and taught at Rutgers University and the University of Miami before returning to FAU. Since his tenure as a member of faculty at FAU, Shaw has taught marketing courses. He served as an associate dean, an acting director of the School of Industry Studies, and a chairman of the marketing department. 

In 1982, FAU inducted Shaw into the Alumni Hall of Fame and in 2006, he was given FAU’s Faculty Talent Leadership Award. He also received awards for an Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching three times and was named Distinguished Teacher of the Year in the College of Business twice. 

Bryce Totz is a staff writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @brycetotz.