The Daywood Foundation, Inc. has made a $250,000 commitment to the West Virginia University Foundation to endow the Arthur S. Dayton Professorship of Law at the WVU College of Law.

Arthur Spencer Dayton, a native of Philippi, W. Va., was a 1907 graduate of West Virginia University and a 1908 graduate of the WVU College of Law. He and his wife, Ruth Woods Dayton, were married in 1916.

After receiving a master’s degree from Yale University, Dayton returned to Philippi to practice law until 1923. He then moved to Charleston to become a member of the law firm of Blue, Dayton and Campbell. In 1945, the firm was reorganized as Dayton, Campbell and Love. At the time of his death in 1948 at the age of 61, Dayton was still in practice with Harry V. Campbell and Charles M. Love, Jr.

“We are grateful that the Daywood Foundation wants to honor Mr. Dayton’s memory with this professorship,”said Dean John W. Fisher II, WVU College of Law.”He was a graduate of the College of Law, a prominent Charleston lawyer, who was known throughout the state as an outstanding member of the legal profession, and a patron of the arts.”

High quality instruction is an important focus of the College of Law in creating a student-centered learning environment. Professorships of law are designed to recognize, reward, and offer incentives for more senior members of the law faculty who have been tenured and have reached the rank of full professors. They also significantly enhance the basic foundation of law education for students.

The Arthur S. Dayton Professorship of Law is the eighth professorship to be endowed at the WVU College of Law during the Building Greatness Campaign: West Virginia University.

The WVU Foundation is a private non-profit corporation that generates and provides support for West Virginia University. It is conducting the $250 million Building Greatness Campaign on behalf of the University. A five-year effort, the Campaign has generated more than $240 million in gifts and pledges and concludes on December 31, 2003.