A newly endowed scholarship in New Mexico State University’s College of Engineering will provide tuition support for eight additional civil engineering students, thanks to a gift from one of the college’s longtime benefactors.
Ed Foreman, who earned his civil engineering degree from the college in 1955, established the Ed and Barbara Foreman Endowed Scholarship with a $100,000 gift during NMSU’s inaugural Giving Tuesday fundraising event in December.
Foreman and his brother, Harold “Chub” Foreman, are well known around NMSU for their repeated generosity – in fact, one of the College of Engineering’s three campus buildings is named after the brothers, both of whom are civil engineering alumni.
“Our students rely on the generous support of alumni like Ed Foreman, and we are always honored when our donors turn an idea into an action. He heard about the Giving Tuesday matching program and quickly decided to make a $100,000 gift to support student scholarships,” said Stephanie Armitage, assistant dean of development and alumni relations in the College of Engineering. “This was the largest single gift to the college during the Giving Tuesday event, and that says a lot about the legacy Ed and Barbara want to leave at NMSU.”
Foreman’s gift was matched by the NMSU Foundation using funds from NMSU’s Alumni License Plate program.
The newly endowed Foreman scholarship will provide ongoing funding for eight civil engineering scholarships, allowing the student recipients to work closely with faculty on issues like ground stabilization, renewable energy, resilient infrastructure, structural health monitoring, sustainable construction and water treatment and reuse. Recipients will be eligible to receive the scholarships for up to four years to help offset the expense of attending college.
“It is my hope that the scholarships will encourage young folks to better themselves through education, not only technically, but by becoming aware of our society and becoming responsible, good contributors to society,” Foreman said.
Foreman, a Portales, N.M., farmer by birth and a successful businessman, said his time at NMSU gave him a good foundation for building a successful life, and in exchange, Foreman, his brother and their spouses have given generously to the university, most notably in 2005, when they gave a major gift to establish two professorships and an endowed chair in civil engineering.
“One of the great things about NMSU is that the instructors have a personal interest in the students,” Foreman said. “They’re willing to spend time with them and work with them, and you feel needed and wanted and appreciated.”
As a whole, the College of Engineering received more than $450,000 in donations during Giving Tuesday, which were matched dollar for dollar, totaling about $900,000 in new scholarship funds.
NMSU will hold its second annual Giving Tuesday event, part of the national Giving Tuesday campaign, on Nov. 29, 2016.
To learn more about giving to the NMSU College of Engineering, contact Stephanie Armitage at 575-646-5457 or [email protected]
Author: Billy Huntsman – NMSU
