$10 Million Gift Establishes Endowed Chemistry Professorship at Seton Hall

Seton Hall University (South Orange, New Jersey) has received a $10 million estate gift from the late Sylvia and Thomas Tencza, establishing the Thomas Tencza, PhD Endowed Professorship in Chemistry. The position is the first of its kind in the university’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and is intended to provide lasting support for research and graduate training.

Thomas Tencza, who earned his doctorate from Seton Hall in 1966, worked for more than 30 years as a research chemist at Bristol-Myers Squibb. During his career, he contributed to the development of widely used pharmaceuticals including Excedrin, Bufferin, and NoDoz, and was awarded nine patents. His wife, Sylvia Tencza, shared his commitment to higher education, and together they arranged for their estate to benefit Seton Hall’s chemistry program.

"Endowed faculty attract graduate students who want to learn from and collaborate with scholars of the highest caliber," said Jonathan Farina, Dean of Seton Hall's College of Arts and Sciences, in a press release. "This extraordinary gift will ensure that Seton Hall’s chemistry and biochemistry programs continue to thrive, particularly the PhD program where grant-funded research and publication are key to student success. Gifts like this enable Seton Hall to offer sustainable, affordable, hands-on learning, meaningful research, and mentorship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students."

Seton Hall’s chemistry and biochemistry programs offer students access to advanced instrumentation—including a 500 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and FT-IR (Fourier-transform infrared) spectrometers—along with research opportunities that begin as early as freshman year. Accredited by the American Chemical Society (ACS), the program emphasizes both scholarship and professional preparation, with students frequently presenting at national conferences, publishing in journals, and securing internships at major pharmaceutical companies such as Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Bristol-Myers Squibb. The Tencza endowment builds on this foundation, providing additional support for faculty leadership and graduate-level training in areas central to pharmaceutical and analytical science.

Endowed positions typically fund laboratory support, instrumentation, and graduate mentorship. At Seton Hall, the professorship is expected to bolster the chemistry department’s PhD program, giving students greater access to advanced analytical training.

Building on these existing strengths, the Tencza endowment arrives at a time when separation science remains central to both research and industry applications. Additional resources could enable Seton Hall to expand research in chromatography, mass spectrometry, and method development—fields that are essential to both academic inquiry and industrial applications. Nicholas Snow, LCGC International’s “GC Connections” columnist, currently holds the Founding Endowed Professorship in Seton Hall’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and serves as an adjunct professor of medical science at the university.

"Tom and Sylvia's generosity will enrich the student experience and further strengthen the academic excellence for which Seton Hall has always been known," said Seton Hall University President Monsignor Joseph Reilly in the release. "By helping us to expand our educational offerings, this gift and others like it are allowing the entirety of the Seton Hall community from students to faculty to explore the totality of their God-given talents."

By linking a major philanthropic gift to the advancement of applied chemistry, the Tencza Professorship underscores the importance of sustained investment in graduate-level education and analytical research.

"The pride and gratitude that unifies our alumni transcends into our classrooms and our labs and brings extraordinary resources to our students. Tom, and by extension Sylvia, have created a legacy that touches all of us at Seton Hall, and the impact will last forever," said Jon Paparsenos, vice president of University Advancement.