Family and Friends Increase Dulan Finance Chair Endowment

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — In 1974, a group of former students of Harold A. Dulan, former professor of finance, established an endowed fund for a chair in his honor in the Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas. The UA Board of Trustees approved the Harold Dulan Finance Chair in Capital Formation in 1981, and Pu Liu, professor of finance, was appointed as chair holder in 1996.

In November 2004, Dulan’s daughters, Kathy Alexander, Susan Hall and Elizabeth Dulan Sexton, and many of his former students including Lee Bodenhamer and Greg Hartz decided to raise funds to bring the Dulan chair to the level of currently endowed chairs in the Walton College. They have successfully raised $200,000. As a result, the UA Matching Gift Program contributed an additional $200,000 to the original endowment of $1.1 million, bringing the chair to $1.5 million.

Kathy Dulan Alexander said of the effort: “We appreciate all of the help and support from Daddy’s students and our friends. I sincerely hope that over the years to come those that hold this chair will continue his legacy of always encouraging and seeking more knowledge and education.”

 In 1954, Dulan, then a professor of finance  E.J. Ball, a UA law professor; and Lewis Callison, an MBA graduate, founded the Participating Annuity Life Insurance Co. (PALIC) # the first commercial variable annuity company in the United States. Although the College Retirement Equities Fund of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA-CREF) had created a variable annuity in 1952, its sale was restricted to college professors.

PALIC was bought by Aetna Life Insurance and Annuity Co. in 1966. Dulan continued to serve as an investment adviser to Aetna for the variable annuity.

Lee Bodenhamer, B.S.B.A. ’57, M.B.A. ’61, was a former student and worked for Dulan in the company from 1956 until 1963, when he left to get his doctorate at Harvard. He said: “Dr. Dulan realized early on that the variable annuity was a very important financial concept. He was the real brains behind creating Participating Annuity Life Insurance Co., and it is a testament to his genius that he continued to serve as a consultant to Aetna.”

Former student Greg Hartz, B.S.B.A. ’76 and M.S. ’78, said: “Dr. Dulan had a curiosity and thirst for knowledge like I have seen in no other person. He was always striving to obtain facts that would further his understanding of topics such as monetary theory and practice, inflation, capital formation, economic and world history and human nature, to name just a few.”

When Dr. Dulan passed the original Chartered Financial Analyst exam in 1963, he marked a trail that many of his students were encouraged to follow. His CFA certificate No. 16 marked him as a pioneer. More than 64,000 professionals now use the CFA designation. Hartz added: “I was especially fortunate to have been one of many beneficiaries of Dr. Dulan’s mentoring. His generosity through this process has had and continues to have a profound impact on my career and personal life. I am so pleased that his family and friends, with the help of the Walton family, have achieved this lasting tribute to my friend and colleague.” 

One of Dulan’s comments regarding annuities was: “The most important societal benefit is that hundreds of thousands of annuitants, with billions of dollars in annuities, have received income that compensated for inflation. In many cases, individuals whose retirement income was basically low would have suffered serious financial handicaps had the annuity payment not increased over the years.”

Dulan received his B.B.A., M.B.A. and Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Texas. He joined the University of Arkansas in 1946 where he taught until 1982. After he retired, he served as professor emeritus of finance and continued his investment counseling business. He was also a certified public accountant. He received the Alumni Association’s Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award in 1966. At various times, he served as chair of the economics department and the finance department. He was also an active member of the University Teaching Academy, founded by Dan Ferritor in 1988 to promote an environment of teaching and learning. Dulan died July 12, 2001.

Dulan also served for many years as an adviser to the University of Arkansas Investment Committee. He said about that service: “You get an illustration of the practical advantages from the application of results from basic research in the income and appreciation performance of the university endowment funds. For the entire last 10 years prior to my retirement, the U of A ranked number two in investment performance out of some 200 leading universities. We achieved this because Fred Vorsanger, chairman of the committee, allowed me to integrate the results of my economic and monetary theory basic research into our investment decisions, despite committee member oppositions.”

Dean Doyle Z. Williams said: “We are very excited to be able to bring the endowment for the chair up to $1.5 million and continue to honor the legacy of Dr. Dulan. Variable annuities are used worldwide in estate planning for participation in economic growth and as a hedge against inflation. Almost 50 years ago, he had the vision to see how the variable annuity could help a retiree gain income that was adjusted for inflation.”

This gift counts toward the Campaign for the Twenty-First Century, which had recorded $1.021 billion in gifts and pledges against the $1 billion goal as of June 28, 2005. The Campaign for the Twenty-First Century ended June 30, 2005. Counting of gifts will continue until all gifts made by the June 30 deadline are recorded and matches have been determined. A final total will be announced when that process is complete.