THE TEXAS A&M FOUNDATION MAGAZINE | FALL 2009 PRESIDENT’S LETTER Foundation Steers Steady Course In September the Texas A&M Foundation celebrated its 56th birthday and 10th anniversary in the Jon L. Hagler Center. It was a delight to see more than 400 of you—our former students and friends—at our pregame celebration Sept. 5. Much has changed since we moved into our new building in 1999. Many of you recall when the corner of Houston and what used to be “Jersey” Street was the University Police station. A few of you might remember even further back, when this spot was the location of an old county project house built in the late 1930s. There is a certain elegant symbolism in the fact that the campus home to major-gift philanthropy—the Hagler Center—sits on the site of a fundamental act of charity: folks back home helping poor kids go to college. Ten years ago the Foundation employed 72 people and managed assets of $537.9 million. Today we have 95 on our staff and oversee $1.2 billion in assets for Texas A&M. Back then we didn’t have an Internet and fans were just good Ags at Kyle Field, not people following our Facebook page. I’m privileged to say that my position and title have not changed since 1993. Bob Rutledge, my predecessor, directed the Foundation for 12 years before me. I hope you agree that this stable leadership, along with your generous gifts, has contributed to our success. Leadership change at A&M has been much in the news. The chart that accompanies this letter compares tenure among leaders of five A&M entities since the beginning of our modern era. You could say that these are not comparable, given that two are public, administered by the State of Texas, and the others are privately governed. But that’s my point: By design, the Foundation and its pri- vate partners are independent, financially sound and constant in the sea of change that seems to dominate society today. This autonomy and continuity give us the opportunity to avoid the vagaries and personnel turnover associated with today’s public governance so your gifts can best serve the students, faculty and programs of Texas A&M. We are here for the long run. We are here to facilitate permanent and stable support for A&M. And we have you to thank for it. As a footnote I’d like to mention that we included our 2009 annual report at the back of this issue of Spirit, beginning on Page 47. It saves us a little money versus a separate publication and, with its larger circulation, allows us to share our results with more of our friends. As always, we welcome your feedback. eddie j. davis ’67 president texas a&m foundation TEXAS A&M LEADERSHIP TENURE 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 Williams > Wells > Hubert > Hansen Eller > Adkisson > Rudder 1 Hiler > Luedecke > Richardson > Williams1 Mobley > Miller Thompson Sampson > Graves Vandiver Cocanougher > Mobley McTeer > Gage > McKinney > Bowen Gates Davis > Murano > Loftin > 2 Rutledge Davis Weirus Matson Garner Hopkins Brister Green Shannon Marks 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 Texas A&M University System Texas A&M University Texas A&M Foundation 1. At times these men were both Texas A&M president and chancellor. The Association of Former Students 2. The Texas A&M Foundation, established in 1953, became an independent organization in 1981. 12th Man Foundation Rebecca Buckley ’12 juggles raising her son with going to school. Thanks to one Texas family’s financial support, this single mother can focus on her dream of becoming a veterinarian. » p.34 FEATURES 18 Faculty Impact: WHERE PHILANTHROPY MEETS POLITICS CARPOOL members Cinco Coates ’10 and Kim Private support helps a professor in the Ashworth ’10 offer safe rides home as part of the organization’s mission.» p.22 Bush School of Government and Public Service with his research and publishing. 22 Spirit Impact: Teacher Colleen Holmes and Patricia Oliver ’11 participate in aggieTEACH, SAFE- RIDE SUPERHEROES a collaborative program guiding CARPOOL is a student-run nonprofit policymakers across Texas and the organization that gives Aggies free rides United States toward a brighter home on weekends and reduces drunken global future for math and science education. » p.28 driving. 28 College Impact: TRAILBLAZING FOR TEACHERS Two colleges collaborate on the VOLUME XI NO. 1|FALL 2009 Spirit is published three times a year by the Texas aggieTEACH program, which produces A&M Foundation, which manages major gifts superior math and science teachers. and endowments for the benefit of academic programs, scholarships and student activities at Texas A&M University. Please direct inquiries to 34 the Marketing Office, Texas A&M Foundation, 401 George Bush Drive, College Station, TX Student Impact: 77840-2811, call (800) 392-3310 or (979) 845-8161, DOUBLE DUTY MOMS or e-mail [email protected]. Information - in this magazine is for educational purposes A scholarship established by the only and should be examined by independent legal counsel due to possible differences in local Hammaker family assists single parents laws and individual needs. studying veterinary medicine. giving.tamu.edu www.facebook.com/TexasAMFoundation www.texags.com www.youtube.com/aggiespiritandmind copyright © 2009 texas a&m foundation SPIRIT MAGAZINE | FALL 2009 3 EDITOR Sondra White ’87 MANAGING EDITOR Mary Vinnedge ’75 DIRECTOR OF MARKETING Kathy McCoy ’80 WEB COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST Rachel Dohmann ’07 MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST Alice Bassett STUDENT INTERNS Lianna Grissom ’11 Nichelle Jaeger ’12 DEPARTMENTS ART DIRECTION & DESIGN Geer Design, Inc. CONTRIBUTING WRITERS– ANNUAL REPORT 5 THE LEGACY Shana Hutchins ’93 An Austin entrepreneur shows his gratitude Kara Bounds Socol Exa York for life-altering Aggie experiences. PHOTOGRAPHY 6 LETTERS/ CORRECTIONS Dan Bryant (p. 51) Gabriel Chmielewski (pp. 36-37) 8 ON CAMPUS Cushing Memorial Library Archives (p. 12) Dr. Norman E. Borlaug is remembered, Department of Choral Activities (p. 13) Robb Kendrick (cover; pp. 3, middle; and the College of Geosciences has a new 8, bottom; 15, top; 20; 28-29; 31; 47) petroleum center. Urs Kreuter (p. 10) Justin Lange (p. 52) 10 LAB WORK John R. Lewis (p. 13, bottom; 50) Aggies study ecosystems in Africa; stateside, Jim Lyle (pp. 3, bottom; 19-20; 23-24; 27; research includes launching a satellite, 38-40; 44) Jane Martin (p. 15) studying algae as an energy source and more. NASA (p. 11) Buzz Refugio (p. 9, top) 12 NEW GIFTS Guillermo Sosa (p. 3, 34) Donors support the Operation Spirit and J. Griffis Smith (pp. 5, 48, 53) MindSM scholarship initiative. Rylan Barnes ’04 credits his Aggie computer TAMU Marketing & Communications engineering coursework with giving him the necessary skills to create a prize-winning cell- (inside back cover) 14 ONE VOICE phone application, ShopSavvy. » p.44 Glenn Vigus (p. 9) Students in performance studies enjoy Matt Zeringue (pp. 16-17) enrichment programs financed by ILLUSTRATIONS benefactors. Todd Christensen ’09 (p. 11) Perkins + Will Architects (p. 42) by Judith Hamera PRINTING 16 VIEWPOINT Grover Printing Aggies win hybrid race-car contest. BOARD OF TRUSTEES Tom Saylak ’82 38 OPPORTUNITY Chairman Texas A&M’s libraries add a 4 millionth Bob Surovik ’58 volume published in 1617. Chairman-elect John Bethancourt ’74 41 @FOUNDATION Mel Glasscock ’59 Find out about happenings at the Charles Gregory ’64 Richard Kardys ’67 Hagler Center. COVER PHOTO Ray Rothrock ’77 Future math teacher Patricia Oliver ’11 44 POSTSCRIPT accumulates extra classroom experience OFFICERS The Tools to Do It Right Ed Davis ’67 through aggieTEACH. This program, a President by Rylan Barnes ’04 collaboration between the College of Jim Palincsar Science and the College of Education and CONTACT Senior Vice President for Development 45 Human Development, has led Texas’ Doyle Thompson Stay in touch with the Texas A&M math and science teacher production Vice President and Controller Foundation. for the past three years.The goal of Liska Lusk aggieTEACH is to restore American Vice President and General Counsel 47 2009 ANNUAL REPORT superiority in technical fields. 4 TEXAS A&M FOUNDATION Aggie Intervention A series of Aggie experiences lifted a small-town boy from oil field worker to successful entrepreneur. As a high school senior, Lee Walker ’63 Center. “Little did I know I was enter- was working in the oil patch in Three ing this force field of Stark,” he said. Rivers, Texas, when Aggie basketball Stark was a father figure, opening coach Shelby Metcalf showed up and Walker’s mind to the world. While asked, “Would you like to go to A&M enrolled at A&M, he studied in on a basketball scholarship?” Yugoslavia, Sweden and Africa. “I was very tall, and I was a good Walker later attended Harvard student, so I fit the bill,” Walker said. Business School. He was president of To discuss how a planned gift to “We went to a basketball court and I the startup company that became Dell the Texas A&M Foundation might played one-on-one with Shelby Metcalf. Computer Corp. He is now a Univer- benefit you and your family, I was an awkward teenager, and my sity of Texas professor teaching the contact Glenn Pittsford ’72 in feet and hands were still slick from honors course Pathways to Civic the Office of Gift Planning at the oil patch, but I played OK and he Engagement. “At Texas A&M, I learned [email protected] or (800) recruited me.” community and place. I didn’t learn 392-3310. We will describe how Were it not for his height, smarts that at Harvard Business School.