New Mexico State University’s comprehensive “Doing What Counts” campaign is setting its sights higher, after already reaching its original goal during the first half of the seven-year fundraising plan. As of December 2006, the campaign had raised more than $150 million.

“What an amazing number in such a short time,” says Danny Villanueva ’60, honorary chair of the campaign committee from the NMSU Foundation Board of Directors. “It is built on gifts ranging from $25 to $88 million! The money that we have raised reflects a collective connection to the past and a belief in a great future for NMSU shared by our alumni and friends.

“When we announced the public phase of the campaign in October 2005, we had gifts and pledges totaling more than $40 million,” Villanueva continues. “The gala public kickoff inspired gifts from so many of our alumni and friends who are quick to say things like ‘NMSU helped me become a better person,’ ‘I owe my success to what I learned at State’ or ‘NMSU was family to me.’”

The Foundation Board’s campaign steering committee was scheduled to meet in January to set a new goal for the campaign. “‘Doing What Counts’ means building on this momentum to meet all the goals of the campaign as originally outlined by the colleges and departments,” Villanueva says.

Increased endowments for academic chairs, professorships and scholarships is a top priority for the campaign that has seen many successes. Three alumni stepped up to help in that goal. Brothers Ed ’55 and Harold “Chub” Foreman ’61 made a gift to the civil engineering department that will fund a chair and two professorships.

Michael Johnson ’72 created the first endowed chair for the College of Arts and Sciences with his gift to the Department of Geological Sciences. The inspiration for his gift evolved during a Homecoming 2005 field trip to the Robledo Mountains.

“With Dr. Tom Giordano retiring, I wanted to ensure that geology stayed a viable and growing department at NMSU and that my gift would make a significant difference,” Johnson says.

It all came together in July 2006 at an endowment signing ceremony witnessed not only by Johnson’s family, but also the heads of the 23 academic departments in the College of Arts and Sciences. According to Johnson, this experience made a significant impression on his son and daughter. “Hopefully it will instill in them the importance of giving back to those who helped you succeed,” he says.

El Paso Electric has announced a commitment of $250,000 to the William Kersting Chair in the College of Engineering’s electrical utility management program.

“This contribution demonstrates El Paso Electric’s commitment to education and to improving the quality of life in the communities we serve,” says Gary Hedrick, El Paso Electric president and chief executive officer. “Our relationship with New Mexico State University is a long and fruitful one. It is an honor to be able to recognize this outstanding educator and community leader.”

Since October 2005, more than 80 new endowments have been created to support a variety of programs across campus. Some of these have been gifts from families to honor loved ones; others have been the result of college solicitation initiatives. Each of them tells a special story of the role NMSU has played in the lives of its alumni and friends.

In the College of Engineering, the civil engineering academy has worked to raise more than $100,000 to fund an endowment honoring professor emeritus Jesse Lunsford that will provide scholarships for civil engineering students. Lunsford was a prominent figure in the lives of three decades of engineering students. He often taught entry-level engineering classes and thereby touched many lives in a very positive manner.

To perpetuate the impact that Bruce Wilson had on the Department of Chemical Engineering, his family created an endowment to establish a graduate research assistantship to honor his commitment to chemical engineering education at NMSU.

Wilson was on the faculty at NMSU from 1964 to 1987. He continued to serve the department after retirement by teaching courses, mentoring graduate students and securing funding for graduate student research.

Ann Goode was a loyal and devoted friend. Barbara Simmons met her when she first moved to Las Cruces in the 1980s to assume the position of dean of the College of Education at NMSU. Goode, a retired high school English teacher turned real estate agent, helped them look for a home to buy.

Goode hadn’t forgotten the challenges she faced as a student balancing the need to work and the demands of the student teaching portion of the curriculum. In 1988 she began making gifts to the College of Education to support scholarships for students when they were student teaching. These gifts were anonymous and often unexpected.

A few years ago Goode found herself a patient at a Las Cruces hospital. Impressed by the care she received from the nurses during her stay, she decided to establish an endowment to support the NMSU nursing program from which they had graduated. In fact, she established two. One is a bridge scholarship for students who earned their associate degrees at Doña Ana Community College and are continuing in the nursing department on the main campus to earn BSN degrees. The second is to support the accelerated nursing program in that department.

Ann Goode passed away in the summer of 2006. From her estate, an additional gift of $75,000 added $25,000 to each of her favorite projects at NMSU. “She was very giving and very kind and stayed in touch with her friends,” reflects Simmons, now retired.

One of the campaign’s capital priorities is still a work in progress. The Performing Arts Center, which will serve the growing arts community of the region and the campus, has drawn involvement from a number of key community people with connections to many arts venues. Shane Hollett, NMSU director of development, has been working with this team.

“We are excited to have community leaders like Sally Cutter, Ammu Devasthali, Connie Hines, Jan Martin and Mark

Medoff serving on the core fundraising team for this center,” Hollett says. “To build a facility that will serve the region for decades into the future takes considerable planning as well as funds. We know we will see significant progress during the second half of the campaign.”

John Long ’77, NMSU Foundation Board president, says, “The journey is not over. The needs of the university continue to grow. If you haven’t joined us in ‘Doing What Counts,’ then I ask you to reflect on how your NMSU experience has shaped your life, and join us on our journey to reach new heights and achieve new goals.”