Lindsay France/University Photography

Inspired throughout their lives by gifted teachers, Andrew and Ann Tisch say that they feel a responsibility to make sure Cornell remains great.

NEW YORK -- From elementary school through college, there were teachers who inspired both Andrew '71 and Ann Tisch. Now, as they give $35 million to help Cornell compete for top faculty, they are trying to ensure that excellent teachers continue to make a great university.

"Every great institution is great because of its faculty and staff," said Ann Tisch, who founded an all-girls public school in East Harlem that is now considered a national model. "You can't compete at the college and university levels unless you have amazing professors who are going to commit, remain loyal and stay."

The Tisch University Professorships, being unveiled today, will create a $35 million endowment to help Cornell retain and attract world-class, mid-career faculty. Not restricted to any college or discipline, the gift will give university leaders full discretion for creating several endowed positions.

"I have great faith in the leadership of the university to know that they are going to do the right thing with the money," said Andrew Tisch, a graduate of Cornell's School of Hotel Administration. "We didn't want to tie it down and put so many restrictions on it that the university really couldn't operate with free hands."

The couple are quick to point out that Cornell "is already great." But inspired throughout their lives by gifted teachers, they feel a responsibility to make sure it stays that way, Ann Tisch said.

They know Cornell competes for faculty against other top research institutions that may have greater resources. They hope their gift will bolster Cornell's ability to attract faculty, and to make sure the best teachers have every opportunity to stay at Cornell if they are being recruited elsewhere.

"I don't begrudge a great professor for looking at how he or she can conduct research in the best way possible," Andrew Tisch said. "They have to look everywhere. What we want to do is make sure that in the end, they conclude that Cornell is the best place to be."

The Tisches' passion for education, as well as their dedication to their community, is evidenced by their involvement in countless civic groups and leadership committees. Co-chairman of the board and chairman of the executive committee of Loews Corp., Andrew Tisch serves on the Cornell Board of Trustees and its executive committee, as well as on the Harvard Business School Dean's Board of Advisers, and as co-chair of the Dean's Council at the New York University/Tisch School of the Arts. He is involved in Jewish affairs through the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Business Leadership Forum, as well as many civic organizations.

Ann Tisch, a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, is president and founder of The Young Women's Leadership Foundation and The Young Women's Leadership School, a groundbreaking inner-city public school for girls that opened in 1996. Since its opening, a number of other schools -- operating under the same model -- have been created in New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas and Austin. She is also the founder of CollegeBound, a privately funded school-based college counseling service. For 19 years, she worked in broadcast journalism, including at NBC as a national correspondent.