Lives Transformed 2017 McMURRY UNIVERSITY IMPACT REPORT
Lives Transformed McMurry University transformed my life! McMurry University gave me the tools to build a career. McMurry introduced me to my husband, Rickey. McMurry provided an education not only for myself, but also for my family. McMurry transformed me, and today I have the opportunity to impact the lives of hundreds of students and alumni. I have dedicated my professional career to challenging and preparing McMurry students to succeed when they leave our campus to take on the world. I have seen students transformed by their McMurry experience go on to lead lives of leadership, service and professional success. The University’s impact on student lives has never been more significant than it is today. As we prepare for McMurry’s centennial in 2023, this report shares but a few stories of how your generous support has truly transformed the lives of our students and alumni. Please accept our heartfelt thanks for your belief in the importance of a McMurry experience. Dr. Pug Parris ’73
2017
IMPACT REPORT Academic Impact: 1 A Chance to do Something Spectacular Alumni Impact: 3 Leadership Scholarship Provides Opportunity Student Impact: 5 Legacy Continues to Impact Students Faculty and Staff Impact: 7 Making a Difference for Our Students Total Giving 9
The McMurry Fund 10 Endowment 10
Academic Impact
A CHANCE TO DO SOMETHING SPECTACULAR McMurry alumnus John Keith ’73 is a modest man of modest means. However, when he inherited stock from his father, Keith had a chance to do something spectacular to honor his mother’s long-held wish that the proceeds be used for McMurry’s benefit.
ordained in 1977, blazing the trail for future women United Methodist ministers. When presented with the opportunity to fund a McMurry professorship, John Keith knew that professorship should be in the name of Dr. Monk.
Using the stock, Keith is creating a charitable remainder trust as part of his estate planning. By doing so, upon his death, half of the resources remaining in the trust will fund a McMurry scholarship in honor of his late sister, Kathryn Keith ’73, and the other half will fund the Dr. Robert Monk Distinguished Professorship in Religion at McMurry.
“My story is the impact McMurry had on Kathryn, and the support she received to pursue her ultimate dream,” he said. “Dr. Monk was her head cheerleader.”
The story of the Keith family and Dr. Monk intertwine throughout the past 50 years.
An esteemed member of McMurry’s Department of Religion and Philosophy, Monk taught for 31 years before retiring 22 years ago. During those years, he touched countless students’ lives, often without knowing the depth of that impact.
Kathryn enrolled at McMurry in 1968. As a religion major, Kathryn had Dr. Monk as a professor, and John recalled that Kathryn introduced him to Monk when he enrolled two years later. Serious illness forced Kathryn to leave McMurry for two years, and Monk always went out of his way to speak to John and to ask about Kathryn. When she returned, Monk served as her mentor. According to Keith, Monk “recognized something special” in Kathryn. He saw her “determination and commitment to the Church,” and he recognized that she “worked very hard to overcome obstacles.” With Monk’s encouragement, Kathryn entered seminary and was 1
“Those kinds of relationships are amazing,” Monk said of the connection he had with Kathryn, John and the entire Keith family. Often, those without significant means think they cannot make a difference. John Keith’s gift shatters that myth. Keith’s legacy funding Kathryn’s scholarship, which recognizes McMurry’s contribution to her experience, and honoring Dr. Monk’s relationship to that experience, will be “transformational to McMurry,” said Debra Hulse ’80, vice president for Institutional Advancement. “This gift is an example of how you can make a big impact even when you don’t think you can,” Keith said.
Pictured: Dr. Robert Monk and John Keith ’73
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Alumni Impact
LEADERSHIP SCHOLARSHIP PROVIDES OPPORTUNITY When Dr. Sandra Harper “broke through the glass ceiling” as the first woman president at a university in Abilene, her installation as president of McMurry created a great deal of excitement among leaders in the Abilene community. To celebrate that accomplishment, the Dr. Sandra Harper Women’s Leadership Scholarship was established in conjunction with her inauguration in 2014, providing female students the financial help and professional connections needed to succeed. Through tickets for the Women’s Leadership Luncheon, the initial scholarship was funded and awarded to an outstanding female student who excelled in the classroom and distinguished herself through service on campus and in the Abilene community. In 2015 Taylor Russell ’16 was the second McMurry student to receive the $5,000 scholarship at the luncheon. She originally applied for the scholarship because she believes that “women have a unique ability and responsibility to be leaders in their communities. We are naturally gifted with a compassionate nature where we visualize for the long-term in decision-making.” Now a first year dental student pursuing a DDS degree for 2021, Taylor emphasizes that the scholarship did more than provide financial support. 3
It also gave her a chance to encounter and network with the women leaders of Abilene who created the scholarship. “It gave me confidence by having a group of supporters who believe in my goals and encourage me to be a leader in my community, and to remind me of the importance of giving back to the community.” Taylor values the qualities of a proficient leader from her leadership experience at McMurry, and she knows the importance of being a leader in the community, her profession, her family and society after she establishes her general dentistry practice after graduation. She plans to follow the example of the women who have supported her by providing similar support to others and is grateful to Dr. Harper and the scholarship committee for her selection and the opportunity to represent the award. In 2018, The Women’s Leadership Luncheon will celebrate its fifth anniversary, and organizers are determined to continue providing the Dr. Sandra Harper Women’s Leadership Scholarship to women leaders. Funding received from the luncheon has led to the establishment of an endowed scholarship in Dr. Harper’s name.
Pictured left: Dr. Sandra S. Harper and Taylor Russell ’16
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Student Impact
LEGACY CONTINUES TO IMPACT STUDENTS As a boy growing up across the street from the McMurry University campus and as the son of a Methodist minister, Neel Lemond always had a special place in his heart for McMurry. “Coach Neel,” as he was known, was a fixture in all facets of campus life. As Kyle Robarts, a former McMurry sports information director and donor to the fund remembers, Coach Neel was always “McMurry’s #1 fan.” He was such a fan and so well-liked that in his younger years, Coach Neel traveled on the bus with McMurry’s athletic teams. Robarts recalls hearing a story from the 1970s of a first-year coach stopping Neel from getting on the bus to an away game. “I was here long before you were, and I will be here long after you leave,” Neel told him. And he was. And in spirit he still is. Neel supported McMurry, its students and its student-athletes for over 50 years. His legacy of servant leadership, spiritual development and joyful participation in life despite its challenges continues through the Coach Neel Lemond Endowment for Athletes in Service, a fund established after his passing in 2014. The endowment provides funds for scholar-athlete service projects both on campus and off campus, including the City of Abilene Adaptive
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Recreation Olympics, which take place on the McMurry campus. Both scholar-athletes and their guests participate in a day of athletic competition, fun and fellowship. “It's always a joy to volunteer for the Adaptive Olympic Clinic with my teammates,” said McMurry scholar-athlete Symphony Munoz ’19, who assisted with the Adaptive Olympics. “The people attending the clinic have hearts of contagious joy. I feel like we learn more from the attendees than what they learn from us.” “It was a pleasure to be recognized as a War Hawks baseball player and to sign autographs for the youth,” said Juan Valadez ’20, another scholarathlete who has worked at the Adaptive Olympics. “I would just like to thank McMurry for making that day possible.” McMurry Director of Athletics Sam Ferguson hopes to continue the Olympics program and other programs funded by the endowment. “There is no more meaningful way to honor this man’s life than by supporting the endowment which bears his name and is devoted to honoring the values of service, loyalty and faith that he so well represented,” said Ferguson.
Pictured: Neel Lemond and the Adaptive Olympics
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Faculty and Staff Impact MAKING A DIFFERENCE FOR OUR STUDENTS
Donations to the McMurry Fund are making a huge difference in preparing our students to succeed in the classroom.
but learning to communicate through her writing. “Taking Composition and Rhetoric has given me that foundation,” she said.
With the support of the McMurry Fund, Beth Laurence, Academic Enrichment Center writing coordinator and instructor of developmental English, attended the National Association of Developmental Educators (NADE) national conference in March 2017 to learn about accelerated developmental programs. Developmental courses are designed to improve at-risk students’ skills in math, reading and writing. What Beth learned was that by developing these accelerated courses for McMurry, there would be a direct and immediate impact for the students.
In the pilot, students enroll in two co-requisite courses. Associate Professor of English Dr. Ann-Marie Lopez ’00, who developed the curriculum, teaches the college-level Composition and Rhetoric sections, and Laurence teaches the connected sections covering developmental reading and writing. Laurence attends Lopez’s 8 a.m. classes, and the two utilize the same materials and strategies.
After the conference, an accelerated developmental pilot was launched at McMurry during the fall 2017 semester. Sixty full-time students enrolled in the program, and those students have responded enthusiastically. Pre-nursing major Homunye Angela Smythe ’21 said that Composition and Rhetoric is her favorite class this semester. “I have become a sophisticated reader, flexible writer, better listener and above all a critical thinker,” said Smythe. “Being able to take the course sooner allows me to incorporate my reading and writing strategies in future courses.” Smythe recognizes she is not just learning technical skills and knowledge 7
Students successfully completing the pilot earn credit for Composition and Rhetoric that counts toward their degree requirements. During the same semester, they address their developmental reading and writing needs, and students save both time and money. Laurence sees important differences. “My students feel empowered, show more enthusiasm about reading and writing and are engaged in class as I have not seen in my 23 years of teaching,” she said. Lopez also sees positive changes. Students more easily find “their voices,” think more critically and view education and literacy in a new light. It is support of the McMurry Fund that provided the opportunity to attend the conference and create the pilot program which has “greatly surpassed our expectations,” said Laurence.
Pictured: Beth Laurence and Dr. Ann-Marie Lopez ’00
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Total Giving
$5,255,824 56% - FOUNDATIONS, ESTATES & MATCHES 16% - ALUMNI 5% - CURRENT TRUSTEES 1% - FACULTY & STAFF 11% - FRIENDS 9% - CORPORATIONS & BUSINESSES 2% - RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS, NONPROFITS, EDUCATION FOUNDATIONS & STUDENTS
71% - ENDOWMENT 13% - MCMURRY FUND 10% - OTHER 4% - ATHLETICS 2% - CAPITAL
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The McMurry Fund
The McMurry Fund is an annual campaign that raises unrestricted gifts for current students at the University. Gifts in their entirety go to work immediately, ensuring that more students achieve their goal of becoming McMurry University graduates.
FY2013 $777,750
FY2014 $878,600
FY2015 $1,054,660
FY2016 $1,036,600
FY2017 $697,585
Endowment
FY2013 $68,698,899
FY2014 $74,710,416
FY2015 $76,524,625
FY2017 $81,530,518 FY2016 $73,569,862
The McMurry University Endowment benefits students and faculty through scholarships and program enhancements offered in state-of-the-art facilities. The current endowment–including market gains/losses, contributions and distributions from earnings:
$81,530,518 10
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