Valley businessman John W. Teets has asked the ASU Foundation to return a $250,000 endowment he gave to the University intended to reward teachers, claiming the foundation mishandled funds.
Teets, the former chief executive of the Greyhound and Dial corporations, issued a letter to the foundation through his lawyer, Mark M. Deatherage, in March.
“When Mr. Teets was asked to and decided to make this gift back in 1999, the terms were in writing,” Deatherage said. “It was as simple and straightforward as it could be.”
The endowment’s purpose is to fund the annual Outstanding Teaching Awards at the W. P. Carey School of Business, offering three monetary awards every year.
According to the letter, the terms of the endowment state that from Teets’ gift of $250,000, the foundation would grant annual awards of $5,000 to the W. P. Carey’s best undergraduate teacher and best graduate teacher, as well as a $2,000 award to the best graduate assistant, with the recipients decided by student votes.
“[Teets] is very passionate about the idea that great teachers are underappreciated,” Deatherage said, “and he thought this was a great opportunity to give them recognition.”
The letter says Teets and his family feel the foundation has not properly utilized the endowment and they have requested it to be revoked, with the foundation reimbursing the full amount to the Teets family.
According to records of the prior winners of the Outstanding Teaching Awards, for the first two years, the foundation gave the agreed amount of $5,000 and $2,000 to the winners.
In 2002, the awards’ third year, the amounts were reduced to $3,000 and $550 for teachers and assistants respectively. The reward amount continued to decline for eight years, granting $2,000 to the winning undergraduate and graduate professors in 2009.
In a statement issued by the W. P. Carey School of Business, Dean Robert Mittelstaedt said the college is grateful to the Teets family for its support of teachers.
“The John W. Teets Outstanding Teaching Awards are among the most prestigious faculty awards at the school and are the only ones where the winners are totally selected by students,” the statement said. “We are hopeful that we can continue this tradition that inspires both students and faculty members.”
A statement issued by president and CEO of the ASU Foundation Johnnie Ray said the University has lived up to the agreement signed by both parties.
“The earnings from this endowment have gone directly to the purpose intended by the original donor,” Ray’s statement said. “It is an outstanding program aimed at rewarding strong teaching in the W. P. Carey School of Business and is highly coveted by the faculty recipients. We will continue to pursue the resolution of the concerns of the family of the original donor in good faith, as we have been doing.”
The foundation refused to comment any further, saying that officials are currently working toward a solution with Teets and his family.
“There wasn’t supposed to be any deviation in the amount of the awards unless they were increased,” Deatherage said.
Teets did not have a role in the nomination or selection process of the awards, Deatherage said, but the amounts were “set in stone.”
“The proposal said, if you will gift us this $250,000, we will make awards in these amounts,” Deatherage said. “It didn’t say ‘we’d try to,’ or that the amount would be reduced.”
Teets’ letter requests that the foundation retroactively award the past winners and make up the difference to those who haven’t received the award.
Deatherage said if the foundation refuses to repay the prior winners, Teets himself will pay the difference out of pocket.
“He wants the program to live up to what it intended to be,” Deatherage said. “And if he has to do that out of his own funds … he will.”
Reach the reporter at joseph.schmidt@asu.edu
