Two Kansas University alumni have donated $1.75 million to create a professorship in the School of Pharmacy, KU officials announced Thursday.

The gift, from Madison “Al” and Lila Self, of Hinsdale, Ill., was made to honor Howard Mossberg, who served as the school’s dean from 1966 to 1991.

Mossberg also directed the Madison and Lila Self Graduate Fellowship Program from 1991 to 2003. The program, established with a gift from the Selfs, supports students pursuing doctoral degrees.

“When we started the fellowship program, we were trying to do something new, meaningful and different in graduate education,” Al Self said. “It was in great part due to Howard’s extensive experience in leadership roles at KU and his ability to work effectively with a variety of university partners that much progress has been made toward achieving the vision we have in mind for this program.”

The gift will provide money for salary, travel, graduate assistants and equipment for a new faculty member in pharmacogenomics, the study of how individual human genetic factors affect responses to pharmaceutical drugs.

Al Self graduated from KU in 1943 with a degree in chemical engineering. He led Bee Chemical Co. in Lansing, Ill., in its expansion from a staff of three to 500 employees worldwide, from 1947 to 1984. He then established Allen Financial Inc., an investment company that he now serves as president. In 1989 he formed Tioga International Inc., which makes industrial sealants and coatings. Lila Self, a native of Eudora, attended KU with the class of 1943.