Penny Fox, Chair of Moore College of Art & Design's Board of Trustees, and her husband Bob have given the Museum District-based school for women its largest endowment gift--$2 million--to create Moore's first endowed professorship and fund five endowed student internships annually.

Thursday's announcement is significant for two reasons. First, Moore is the only independent art and design college to require internships in all majors and to support each student with $1,000 Internship Fellowships. That program that began last year and that will be a direct beneficiary of the Fox gift, which will allow for five additional fellowships of $2,000 that will be competitively awarded beginning next year. Also, Moore will be able to create its first endowed professorship--The Penny and Bob Fox Distinguished Professorship--which will begin in May and rotate every two years, recognizing faculty who exemplify teaching excellence and outstanding leadership.

"This is a historic step for Moore," says college president Happy Craven Fernandez in a news release. "We know that placing students with working professionals and potential employers provides meaningful opportunities that influence students' career paths.

"We also know that college-funded internship fellowships are rare in higher education."

Penny Fox has served Moore's board since 1991 and is also a trustee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Ballet. Robert Fox is the chairman and CEO of Jenkintown-based private investment firm R.A.F. Industries.

JOE PETRUCCI is managing editor of Flying Kite. Send feedback here.