The University is honouring the memory of the late Donald Dewar, Scotland's first First Minister, by launching a £1.7M appeal to establish a Chair of Social Justice. The appeal has been inaugurated by a donation of £150,000 from ScottishPower.

The person appointed as the Donald Dewar Professor of Social Justice will give academic leadership in this inter-disciplinary field, promoting teaching and research programmes on the origins and extent of social exclusion and disadvantage and provide intellectual focus to public debate and policy making.

Presenting the donation to Sir William Kerr Fraser, Chancellor of the University, Mr Ian Russell, Chief Executive of ScottishPower said: "I am extremely proud of the central role that ScottishPower -- and its predecessor the South of Scotland Electricity Board -- has played in the social and industrial history of Scotland over the past 100 years.

"ScottishPower is firmly committed to working in partnership with Government and other agencies to help promote social justice, particularly in tackling the very serious issues surrounding education, lifelong learning and fuel poverty.

"We believe it is vital that in promoting social justice, public policy should be based on the soundest of foundations. For that reason, ScottishPower is delighted to support this initiative and I hope we can continue to play a significant role in helping create the kind of Scotland that the late Donald Dewar campaigned for all his life. "

Welcoming the gift from ScottishPower, the Principal of the University of Glasgow, Professor Sir Graeme Davies, said: "This generous donation has given our appeal a splendid start. We hope that a large number of individuals and organisations will wish to recognise the work of Donald Dewar by making donations, whether large or small."

The creation of the new Chair will complement the Donald Dewar Memorial Scholarships. Shortly after his death last year the University announced that it was funding ten such scholarships to assist students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Donald Dewar Memorial Appeal Patrons

Appeal Chairman: Professor Ross Harper

Appeal President: Sir William Fraser

Patrons

Wendy Alexander MSP

Rt Hon Sir Paddy Ashdown

Fred Berkley

Rt Hon Tony Blair MP

Craig Brown

Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP

Rt Hon Menzies Campbell MP

Hon Lord Caplan

Campbell Christie

Colin Cornes

Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP

Lord Elder of Kirkcaldy

Richard Findlay

Rt Hon Lord Forsyth of Drumlean

Eddie Friel

Sam Galbraith

Charan Gill

Annabel Goldie MSP

Lord Gordon of Strathblane

Philip Graf

Muriel Gray

Stuart Grimshaw

Sir Angus Grossart

Rt Hon Lord Hardie

Greg Hemphill

Peter Howson

Rt Hon Lord Irvine of Lairg

Lord Janner of Braunstone

Rt Hon Charles Kennedy MP

Rt Hon Lord Lang of Monkton

Rt Hon Helen Liddell MP

Professor A Ross Lorimer

Bashir Maan

Lord MacDonald of Tradeston

Lord Macfarlane of Bearsden

Professor Murdoch MacLennan

Lord McCluskey of Churchill

Very Rev Dr Andrew R McLellan

David McLetchie MSP

Iain McMillan

The Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Eric Milligan

Lewis Moonie MP

The Lord Provost of Glasgow, Alex Mosson

Bridget Prentice MP

Lesley Quinn

Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale

Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Rifkind

Sir Ian Robinson

Ian Russell

Lord Sanderson of Bowden

Roy Scott

Rt Hon Lord Selkirk of Douglas

Duncan Shanks

The Lord Provost of Aberdeen, Margaret Smith

Provost William Smith, Inverness

Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill

Bill Speirs

Rt Hon Sir David Steel MSP

John Swinney MSP

Professor John Temple

Rt Hon Jim Wallace MSP

Ruth Wishart

Rt Hon Viscount Younger of Leckie

Further inforamtion for

Media Relations Office (media@gla.ac.uk)

For further information contact the University of Glasgow Press Office 0141 330 3535 or

ScottishPower Press Office 0141 636 4552

First published: 11 June 2001