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Education Professor Endows Doctoral Fellowship<br />
By Aaron Martinez<br />
<strong>UNM</strong> College of Education Professor Virginia Shipman believes that a diversity<br />
of ideas strengthens a campus environment, and she encourages critical thinking<br />
among students. That’s why she endowed the Virginia Curran Shipman Doctoral<br />
Fellowship within the College of Education’s family studies program. “My aim<br />
is to promote an atmosphere of different ideas,” says Shipman. Initiated in 2003,<br />
the award agreement is intended to aid graduate students pursuing a doctorate in<br />
the family studies program.<br />
“I just don’t see how I could have earned my degree without a fellowship,”<br />
recalls Shipman, who holds a doctorate in psychology from the University of<br />
Pittsburg. “My experience was that we went to school full time, and my training<br />
and graduate programs only accepted a limited number of students.” In contrast,<br />
full-time dedication to school is rarely the norm for today’s doctoral students.<br />
“A lot of these students are committed to families, school and jobs, so their time<br />
for taking classes and working on their dissertations is reduced,” says Shipman.<br />
“My concern is that this group of students really needs support financially and<br />
psychologically.” Shipman believes that students must be allowed to fully commit<br />
to their dissertations and her fellowship is intended to provide that opportunity.<br />
Don’t forget!<br />
End-of-Year<br />
Charitable<br />
Giving<br />
If you generally review your<br />
estate and financial plans at the<br />
end of the year it’s a good time to<br />
include charitable gifts. As part<br />
of a review of your will or living<br />
trust, for example, you may wish<br />
to include your charitable interests<br />
for a specific amount, a percentage<br />
or “what’s left” after providing<br />
for heirs.<br />
IRAs for <strong>UNM</strong><br />
Retirement plans and life<br />
insurance policies offer convenient<br />
opportunities for giving as well.<br />
If you are past the age of 59½, you<br />
are allowed to withdraw funds<br />
from a tax-favored retirement<br />
account without triggering an<br />
“early withdrawal” penalty. If your<br />
retirement account investments<br />
have performed well over the<br />
years, you may wish to take a<br />
withdrawal sufficient to fund the<br />
gifts you would like to make before<br />
the end of the year. There are also<br />
ways to make a gift today and<br />
retain income for life or another<br />
period of time.<br />
Hurricane Katrina<br />
Tax Relief Act<br />
This Act suspends the 50 percent<br />
deduction limit for certain gifts of<br />
cash made between Aug. 28 and<br />
Dec. 31, 2005. Such gifts may be<br />
deductible up to 100 percent of<br />
adjusted gross income. Remember<br />
that an end-of-year charitable<br />
gift to your favorite <strong>UNM</strong> college,<br />
school or program is a good way to<br />
help keep taxes as low as possible.<br />
This means if you write a check<br />
to your favorite <strong>UNM</strong> school,<br />
college or program a 100 percent<br />
deduction may apply.<br />
For information on how to best<br />
benefit from one of these gift<br />
arrangements, call Susan Morrison,<br />
J.D., at the <strong>UNM</strong> <strong>Dev</strong>elopment<br />
Office, (505) 277-9604 or<br />
1-800-<strong>UNM</strong>-FUND (866-3863)<br />
or visit our Web site:<br />
plannedgiving.unm.edu.<br />
Fresh Faces<br />
The fellowship is awarded to students who have demonstrated a 3.5 grade point<br />
average in undergraduate- and graduate-level coursework, and preference is given to<br />
out-of-state doctoral students. Students applying for the fellowship must also submit<br />
a 500-word description of their research objective for their degree.<br />
As for why the fellowship favors out-of-state students, Shipman explains, “This<br />
new knowledge coming into our university encourages students to adapt and grow<br />
in dynamic ways.” Exposure to people from different cultures prompts students to<br />
think about why they think the way they do about an issue. “I find that people learn<br />
when their own ideas are challenged and they are forced to think in a different way,”<br />
says Shipman.<br />
Shipman’s own experience chairing the <strong>UNM</strong> Research Allocation Committee<br />
reveals why she’s so dedicated to promoting diversity on campus. Every month she<br />
reviews research proposals from across campus. “I read these fantastic proposals<br />
and learn about amazing things people are doing across <strong>UNM</strong>,” comments Shipman.<br />
She hopes her fellowship will encourage bold thinking and original ideas like those<br />
she reads about during the reviews.<br />
“I feel a more productive society is one in which people have learned to be<br />
open to thought,” Shipman notes. “During my 25 years in research, I’ve found<br />
that diversity encourages a tolerance of ambiguity, which creates a healthy<br />
learning environment.”<br />
<strong>UNM</strong> alumna<br />
Tobie Dorsey became<br />
the director of corporate<br />
relations in summer<br />
2005. She previously<br />
worked in <strong>UNM</strong> human<br />
resources as a benefits<br />
specialist. Earlier in<br />
her career, she was<br />
a sales executive for<br />
Payday Inc., a branch<br />
Tobie Dorsey<br />
manager for Robert Half<br />
International, and human<br />
resources director for Cortez III Service Corporation<br />
and for Four Hills Country Club. Dorsey holds a<br />
bachelor of science degree in biology from <strong>UNM</strong>.<br />
She has volunteered for HealthSouth Rehabilitation<br />
Hospital and for Animal Services. Dorsey has a “can<br />
do” attitude and a strong commitment to <strong>UNM</strong>.<br />
She sees her position, in part, as an ambassador for<br />
the University.<br />
Pam Hurd-Knief<br />
was named director of<br />
major gifts for the <strong>UNM</strong><br />
<strong>Foundation</strong> in July 2005.<br />
She was the constituent<br />
development officer<br />
for the <strong>UNM</strong> School<br />
of Architecture and<br />
Planning since 1999,<br />
leading the school’s<br />
capital campaign and<br />
Pam Hurd-Knief surpassing its<br />
$2.2 million goal.<br />
She also established the Dean’s Council for Design<br />
and Planning Excellence. Earlier in her career,<br />
Hurd-Knief held development positions with<br />
ACLOA, now Musical Theater Southwest, <strong>UNM</strong><br />
Hospitals, Adelante <strong>Dev</strong>elopment Center and the<br />
Carrie Tingley Hospital <strong>Foundation</strong>. Hurd-Knief is<br />
a Certified Fund Raising Executive and will receive<br />
advanced certification in May 2006, becoming one<br />
of fewer than 100 individuals to hold this distinction<br />
in the United States. Pam has a master’s degree in<br />
philanthropy and development from St. Mary’s<br />
University of Minnesota. She is a recipient of a Kellogg<br />
<strong>Foundation</strong> Leadership Fellowship and is president of<br />
the New Mexico Chapter<br />
of the Association<br />
of Fundraising<br />
Professionals.<br />
Sachiko (Sachi) Isobe<br />
became the constituent<br />
development officer for<br />
the College of Arts and<br />
Sciences in spring 2005.<br />
She previously served<br />
as manager of donor<br />
Sachiko (Sachi) Isobe relations at the <strong>UNM</strong><br />
<strong>Foundation</strong>. Before that, she served as major gifts<br />
officer/associate director of the Centennial Campaign<br />
at Hackley School in Tarrytown, N.Y. and associate<br />
director of development and alumni relations for<br />
International House in New York City. Isobe holds a<br />
bachelor of arts degree in comparative politics from<br />
Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.<br />
Ron Martinez is the<br />
development officer for<br />
student affairs. After 32<br />
years in financial aid,<br />
Martinez is developing<br />
his fund-raising skills<br />
to better help <strong>UNM</strong><br />
students. “I want to<br />
also become effective at<br />
raising scholarship and<br />
need-based grant aid to<br />
Ron Martinez<br />
help our students,” says<br />
Martinez. Currently, he<br />
is working on a three-year endeavor within Project<br />
LINK to implement a new campuswide administrative<br />
data processing system called Banner. He is directing<br />
the implementation for the Banner Financial Aid<br />
application to be used starting in January 2006, and<br />
will facilitate financial aid awarding for the 2006-<br />
07 school year. When Martinez finishes the Banner<br />
financial aid project, he expects to resume his position<br />
as <strong>UNM</strong>’s director of financial aid while continuing to<br />
support targeted development needs in student affairs.<br />
In August 2005,<br />
Donna Romoser became<br />
executive director of<br />
development at the<br />
<strong>UNM</strong> Cancer Research<br />
& Treatment Center.<br />
Previously, as executive<br />
director of development<br />
at California’s University<br />
of the Pacific, she<br />
secured a $13 million<br />
Donna Romoser<br />
donation for a new<br />
health sciences center,<br />
the institution’s largest gift ever. Romoser also<br />
oversaw the planning and implementation of a $200<br />
million comprehensive campaign, achieving more<br />
than half of the goal during the quiet phase. As part<br />
of the leadership team, she received the CASE VII<br />
District Medal for the college’s Advancement Gala<br />
campaign launch. At the Fund for Johns Hopkins<br />
Medicine in Baltimore, Romoser was a senior member<br />
involved in a $1 billion campaign that included a<br />
new hospital. Following that she became the director<br />
of development for the University of Central Florida<br />
College of Arts and Sciences, where she designed the<br />
University’s first-ever capital campaign to equip a new<br />
$14.6 million school of communication.<br />
continued on page 8<br />
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