Endowment Report2013-2014

Michael Johnson Chair in Geological Sciences

In the summer of 2006, Michael Johnson and his wife, Judy, decided

to make a legacy gift to the College of Arts and Sciences. It would fund an endowed chair in the Department of Geological Sciences. Johnson wanted

to make a gift that would have a sig-nificant impact on the department that had made a major difference in his life.

When Frank Ramos, an isotope geo-chemist, joined the department faculty in 2008, he added a new dimension to the department. One of Ramos’ goals was to upgrade the department’s lab facilities so they could be used by other NMSU departments and outside universities.

Johnson could not be more pleased.

“My original purpose in endowing a Chair for the Geology Department at NMSU was to make a step change in the academic heft and credibility of the department and take it to the next level in research and teaching abilities,” Johnson said

As the department acquires a new Multi-collector Inductively Coupled Mass Spectrometer for its lab facilities, this vision is being realized. The instru-ment is funded through a $500,000 Major Research Instrumentation grant from the National Science Foundation, an additional $300,000 from Michael and Judy Johnson, and $215,000 from NMSU’s College of Arts and Sciences.

“My vision was to focus on geo-chemistry, a field I loved and one that represents many interdisciplinary opportunities for the department to grow. With the selection of Dr. Ramos to fill the Chair, I felt the progress would be assured and he has not disappointed me,” Johnson said. “The additional grant funding and equip-ment acquisitions (geochemistry is an equipment intensive field for research and teaching) will allow NMSU to make that leap in research capabilities and reach the next level of academic excellence, exactly as I had hoped when it all started.”

NMSU Geology Professor Frank Ramos (the holder of the Michael L. Johnson endowed chair) and his former student Darren Tollstrup from Unity Lab Services, Thermo Fisher Scientific, assembling the new Multi-collector Inductively Coupled Mass Spectrometer at a lab in Gardiner Hall in September.

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500 for $500As the new Pete V. Domenici Hall, the

third building for the College of Busi-ness, opened its doors in September 2014, one special feature in the Stan Fulton Atrium was a donor wall that recognizes everyone who has contributed to the college’s 500 for $500 initiative. These funds will support programs for the College of Business and students going forward.

The recognition display was designed by a team of faculty from the art department. Julia Barello, art department head, led the project.

The atrium will serve as a student lounge and as a pre-function space for events taking place in this new state-of-the-art facility.

The 500 for $500 campaign is on-going. According to Anthony Casaus, associate dean for development in the college, there is still an opportunity for alumni and friends of the college to participate. You can recognize a loved one, pay tribute to your alma mater, or memorialize a legacy as examples. For more information, contact the College of Business at 575-646-5817.

New Mexico State UniversityAll About Discovery!

support.nmsu.edu

PS/10-14/21583

My vision was to focus

on geochemistry, a field I

loved and one that rep-

resents many interdisci-

plinary opportunities for

the department to grow.

-Michael Johnson

FOUNDATIONINC.

The newly completed Pete V. Domenici Hall will be home to NMSU’s Domenici Institute for Public Policy, portions of the Arrowhead Center, which specializes in economic development, and will be the third building for the NMSU College of Business.

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The Alumni Association Endowed Ed-ucational Scholarship does more than

help pay for tuition, it shows the outstanding relationship between alumni and students.

The Alumni Endowed Scholarship was established with gifts from NMSU alumni, and continues to grow with each Lifetime membership fee—$500 for a single member-ship and $700 for a joint membership. The entirety of each payment goes directly into the endowment, and the scholarship rotates through each undergraduate college to help junior and senior level students in every field across campus.

Veronica Bissell knows just how much the scholarship helps. She received it in 2013.

“The Endowed Scholarship helped me buy books, and with what I saved last semester, I was able to use during the Fall 2014 semester to help pay for school. I am so grateful to

have received the scholarship, and it is neat to know the scholarship comes from alumni gifts,” she said.

Bissell is a fifth year student set to graduate in May of 2016. An avid performer, she plans to move to Chicago or Seattle and audition for acting roles and find a job associated with theatre, that is unless her plans change. “Ev-erything is still in development, but I know one thing: I will have a college degree, and my scholarship helped me get it,” she said.

Endowments: Making a Difference Now and In the Future

Financial gifts have an impact, and when a gift grows each year, the

outcome is tremendous. Endowments have that kind of outcome.

New Mexico State University is grateful for your decision to create an endowment, and here’s why: Yearly earnings from endowments enable us to continually support students, faculty

and programs across our campuses. From geology to water resources and talented professors to improving buildings, endowments have an impact each and every year.

In the past year, NMSU received over five million dollars for scholarships, professorships, academic chairs, research and facilities from endowment earnings.

That’s a lot of impact. The performance of the pooled investment fund was 14.5 percent for the last fiscal year and 7.4 percent for the last three years. Our 10-year performance has been 6.8 percent.

Our endowment fund continues to grow through your strong giving and commitment to NMSU, allowing us to have an impact now and in the future.

Alumni Scholarship Supports Students

Veronica Bissell (left), a recipient of the Alumni Association Endowed Educational Scholarship, stands with student Emma Anderson at the Past President’s Breakfast in 2013. J. Paul Taylor and Betsy Cahill

Graduate Awards Fund Student’s DreamsGraduate student Marisa Thompson

Potter enrolled in New Mexico State University in January 2009 to pursue a master’s degree. While exploring options for her course of study, she decided that the horticulture program in the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences was the best fit. It is such a good fit that when she completed her master’s, she moved right into the doctoral program.

She is a graduate research assistant for NMSU Extension Pecan Specialist Richard Heerema. Together with other researchers, they are exploring floral development on pe-can trees hoping to gain further insight into the alternate crop bearing cycle of pecans. Her tentative thesis title is “Unfolding the Mysteries of Flowering Behavior in Pecan One Gene at a Time.”

Now in her sixth year of graduate study, Potter has benefited each year from financial awards that offset her tuition costs. Many of these come from privately-funded endowments established in the department.

This year, her funding comes from the Dr. Billy Melton scholarship and the Esteban Herrera graduate scholarship. She has received funds from the Herrera endowment almost every year.

“I apply through Scholar Dollar$ and feel very grateful for this support. It really makes a difference,” Potter said. “It has been such a great help. I hope I can actually meet Dr. Herrera.”

In conjunction with her dissertation research, Marisa Potter samples leaflets in a commercial orchard in the Mesilla Valley. Three-legged orchard ladders are used for stability when sampling leaflets from high up in the tree canopy.

J. Paul Taylor ProfessorshipJ. Paul Taylor is very proud of his many

connections to his alma mater, New Mexico State University. He earned three degrees and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws by the university as a tribute to his 30 year career in public education.

He followed that with an 18-year career as the state representative for district 33 in the New Mexico legislature. Those combined 48 years of service to the citizens of the region and the state have made him a living legend.

In 2003, Eula Fern Thompson, Olivia Ogas and others put in motion plans to create an endowment in Taylor’s honor to fund a professorship in the College of Edu-cation. Then College Dean Robert Moulton supported this initiative, recalling his first visit with Taylor who came to his office to see how he could be of help.

“I didn’t know then of his years of service to New Mexico’s public schools but it didn’t

take me long to sense that this quiet, unas-suming man deserved my attention. I think of him as a role model and mentor, a wise senior statesman and a benefactor,” Moulton said in a letter designed to raise funds for this endowment.

Then President Jay Gogue stated that he was determined to see this endowment reach professorship level. In 2004, Betsy Cahill, associate professor of early childhood edu-cation, was named the first recipient of this professorship. It is an appointment she will hold as long as she continues in the Depart-ment of Curriculum and Instruction.

For Cahill it is an honor to have her name associated with J. Paul Taylor. “He continues to care about the children of New Mexico and that inspires me to do all I can do in my position to further his commitment to strengthening the early care and education system to better serve our families and chil-dren,” she said.

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I am so grateful to have

received the scholarship, and it

is neat to know the scholarship

comes from alumni gifts.

-Veronica Bissell

For more information on these, or other endowments, call the NMSU Foundation at 575-646-1613.