School of Business
Faculty Focus: UP Announces New Endowed Professorship of Business
Helmut Becker ’62, an emeritus professor who taught accounting to generations of University of Portland students, has proudly added his family name to the school’s growing ledger of endowed professorships.
The Helmut and Margit Becker Endowed Professorship of Business will be awarded to a faculty member during the 2026-27 academic year, said School of Business Dean Michael DeVaughn, PhD.
It is named for Dr. Becker, a UP business professor from 1973-2003, and his late wife Margit. In mid-April, their three children—Sieglinde, Cornelia, and Martin—all UP alumni, joined Helmut at a campus ceremony to formally announce the endowment gift.
“We are all so blessed by what the University did for our family,” said Cornelia Becker Seigneur ’86. “Now, years later, by giving this endowment to help the next generation of faculty and students, it means everything to our father and our family.”
“This endowed chair is a true game-changer that allows us to honor and retain the kind of extraordinary faculty who define the UP experience,” Dr. DeVaughn told the gathering that included University faculty and leadership. “The generosity of Helmut and his family will accelerate and amplify the kind of work that we do every single day.”
Over the years, UP students have benefitted from a Helmut and Margit Becker German Studies Scholarship and the Helmut and Margit Becker Global Acumen Scholarship. University Provost David Mengel, PhD touted the Becker family’s latest gift for “launching a new era in the establishment of additional endowed professorships.”
“Helmut and Margit stood for their belief in the power of a UP education,” said University President Robert D. Kelly, PhD. “They brought that belief to life through their expert teaching, their generous support of scholarships, and now through the creation of the Helmut and Margit Becker Endowed Professorship of Business. On behalf of the entire UP community, I offer my sincere thanks to Helmut, Margit, and their family for their enduring commitment to UP.”
At the ceremony, Dr. Becker recounted arriving in Portland not long after immigrating from Germany in 1958. He married Margit in 1960 and earned his UP business degree in 1962, spending much of the next decade in the Midwest before landing back on The Bluff as a marketing professor in 1973. He switched to teaching accounting to fill a faculty need, which led to “a rewarded 30-year career at a university that has meant so much to me and my life,” he said.
Seven UP faculty who hold named professorships attended the ceremony. Dr. Mengel says more endowed professorships will be announced at UP in the coming year, which will boost faculty recruitment, retention, and professional development.
“This is another important milestone in the University’s commitment to advancing academic excellence,” said Dr. Mengel. “Endowed professorships affirm our commitment to exceptional teaching and scholarship, and they reflect our deep belief in the enduring value of a University of Portland education.”