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Retiring Former President, ENMU Board of Regents, Dr. Jay Gurley, on “To Be An Alumus”
Over the past five decades Eastern New Mexico University has graduated hundreds of individuals who have gone forward with varying degrees of personal, professional, and financial success. There have been lawyers, physicians, teachers, bankers, accountants, musicians, military leaders, businessmen/women, politicians, professional athletes, dentists, artists, professors, scientists, and others who had early roots at ENMU. In fact, many have fulfilled their professional and civic contributions and now have retired to more leisurely paces of life. Too many have forgotten the impact that the University may have had on their lives and occupations. Most of us remember, however, the influence that one or more ENMU professors made on our lives and how their advice and direction contributed to our individual success. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to again sit across the coffee table at the SUB/CUB to entertain discussions with professors now gone and whose names some of us “old timers” will remember, such as Ira Idhe, B. June West, I.V. Payne, Baron Stuart, Bill Baldwin, Oscar Hofstad, John Gregory, Grady Moore, Debs Smith, Henry Hahn, Dewey Langston, Guy Waid, Don Fuertges, Jack Williamson, Howard Melton, and others? What a contribution these people made to students and to ENMU over time!
“As Eastern approaches its 75th Anniversary, I would encourage the alumni (young and old) to seek ways to better the institution through more involvement.
Memories fade quickly, but that doesn’t mean that the alumni cannot continue to advance the traditions of the University by being involved with it in some capacity. Many individuals have taken the time to write a check or designate other gifts to the University---some more than others. This takes commitment. Graduates have not only donated to student scholarship programs, to athletics, and other programs, but have volunteered hours of time to committees, groups, and organizations that enhance the institution. As Eastern approaches its 75th Anniversary, I would encourage the alumni (young and old) to seek ways to better the institution through more involvement. Whether one lives in Portales or Chicago, it is still vital to give back in some form to the wonderful memories and contributions that ENMU has made to each of us.
Dr. Gurley recently resigned after he and his wife moved to San Angelo, Texas, to be near family. He intends to continue to keep an office in Clovis and will continue consulting work in the state. Dr Gurley has completed a full cycle with the university, starting as a student in 1958, later becoming an associate professor and director of the School of Education and finally a regent. “I was glad to be there in a time when there was some growth and new buildings on campus,” he said. “It was a great experience.” Gov. Bill Richardson has appointed Chad Lydick of Clovis to replace Dr. Gurley.
