The Board of Regents approved requests by the University to establish two chair positions and a professorship at a meeting Tuesday.

John Millsaps, spokesperson for the Board of Regents, said in a phone interview Tuesday night that the requests were “fairly straightforward” and there was no opposition from the BOR.

The Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar Hank Haynes Chair in Forest Biotechnology was approved and effective as of Tuesday. An endowment of $750,000 to the Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources supported the approval of the position, which will involve developing a research and education program in forest biotechnology at the University.

The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences received $300,000 from Georgia Power for the establishment of the Georgia Power Professorship in Environmental Remediation and Soil Chemistry. A professor with a national and international reputation in soil and environmental chemistry will be chosen for the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences.

Also established was the Earl Davis Chair in Taxation, which will be funded by $2 million of donations. The appointed professor will teach in the School of Accounting.

The Board also approved a request by the University to declare one acre of land at the Tifton Campus as “no longer advantageously useful to the University,” according to the proposal. The land will be sold for $13,000 to the Georgia Pecan Growers Association, Inc. to establish a branch office to support collaboration between the University and the GPGA.

Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr. addressed the overall budget cuts the University System of Georgia has faced in the past year during his annual State of the University System address at the day-long meeting.

“We must solve our budget crisis,” Davis said, according to a published account of his speech on the Board of Regents Web site. “But we must not sacrifice the important – the historic legacy in this state of public higher education as a clear public good that adds value to the lives of all residents across Georgia.”