On the Cover

Features

An intimate connection

Love, CMU style

Departments

Letters

Take Five
Jeff Daniels visit
Jesse Jackson visit
Brain research
CMU volunteers
Real estate

Discovery
Driving distractions
How seals relate

Sports
A championship year
Jones named new coach

In support
Education building
Faculty learning
Opus gala

Maroon and Gold

Alumni in Action

I Am CMU

Nash gift enhances faculty learning

The recently established Nash Family Professional Development Endowment will give the College of Education and Human Services discretionary funds to assist faculty in pursuing new professional initiatives.

As Curtis Nash describes it, the endowment is designed to help faculty who “embrace vision, promote prowess, challenge ideas, and promote diversity and thinking outside of the box.”

Nash was a faculty member in teacher education for 34 years and served as dean of the College of Education and Human Services from 1968 to 1982.
“When I was dean of CEHS, I never had enough money to help faculty go to conferences or take time off to do research and write – the things that would make them better professors,” Nash says. “I’ve had a good career and retirement, and this is how I am giving back.”

Karen Adams, current dean of the college, is grateful for the Nashes’ support and believes it will make a tremendous impact on the faculty.
“This endowment represents new opportunities for our faculty to participate in professional development that might otherwise be impossible,” she says.

Endowments are gifts that provide a permanent source of revenue. Unlike other types of gifts, the principal initially provided by the donor is never spent. Instead the funds are invested and professionally managed to produce additional income. As the principal grows, so does the income available for the purpose designated by the donor. The income from the Nash Family Professional Development Endowment is earmarked specifically to support new opportunities rather than for ongoing programs.

“We are extremely grateful to the Nash family for their gift,” says Cindy Hales, director of development for the college. “This is a wonderful legacy for a family with a long-standing history with CMU.”
Members of the Nash family have been involved with CMU in one way or another for 58 years.

“My first wife, who passed away in 1984, received her master’s in library science,” Nash says. “My daughter, Elizabeth, received her master’s in elementary education, and my son, Philip, received his bachelor’s and MBA. One of my granddaughters received her master’s through the College of Extended Learning. And, my second wife has for more than 20 years enjoyed various activities around campus.” •