Aug. 19, 2004 by Jeany Llorente NMSU News Center
Garrey E. and Katherine T. Carruthers donated a $500,000 gift to establish the Garrey E. and Katherine T. Carruthers Chair in Economic Development. (NMSU photo by Darren Phillips)
New Mexico State University’s College of Business Administration and Economics will establish a new endowed chair thanks to a gift by the dean of the business college and his wife.
An initial gift of $500,000 was given by Garrey E. Carruthers, dean of the business college and vice provost for economic development, and his wife, Katherine, to establish the Garrey E. and Katherine T. Carruthers Chair in Economic Development.
A $1 million match is expected from the state making the endowment worth $1.5 million.
Carruthers made the announcement during the college’s annual Hall of Fame dinner on Wednesday.
“I think it’s extremely important that if you have had some success in your life as a result of having received a fine education at a university, that you return some of that to the university,” Carruthers said. “Kathy and I have been fortunate in business and I have to attribute part of that fortune to the fact that I attended New Mexico State as well as Iowa State University.”
In addition, Katherine T. Carruthers said they have strong ties to the university.
“Most of our children and their spouses graduated from New Mexico State, and as this is where my husband and I met,” she said.
“Dr. Carruthers has demonstrated again what a true commitment to NMSU means,” said President Michael V. Martin. “He has served this institution and higher education in New Mexico in so many ways. This gift is yet another indication that he will leave a permanent and positive legacy for all who benefit from NMSU.”
In 2003, the state Legislature appropriated $3 million to match private contributions to establish economic development chairs at New Mexico State, the University of New Mexico and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.
“I am tremendously excited by this generous gift,” said Provost William V. Flores. “This gift by Garrey and Kathy Carruthers will help us raise other funds for the college and will help us in building the excellence of the college and the university.”
The funding from the chair may be used to augment the salary of the faculty member holding the chair and other professional expenses necessary to support associated academic activities and related programs. The chair holder will be selected at a later date.
Although the chair will be in the business college it will be associated with NMSU’s Arrowhead Center Inc., which provides support and guidance to innovators who want to turn their ideas into profit. The center, which will partner with New Mexico laboratories and other institutions of higher learning, will help create jobs, enhance student education, recruit and retain faculty, and connect ideas with capital.
“(The chair) will make a major contribution in our fashioning a program in economic development and in attracting and/or retaining a first-flight faculty member to lead the effort,” said Dean Carruthers.
In addition, Carruthers said the timing could not have been better. Recently, Carruthers was named as the vice provost for economic development at NMSU.
“It is opportune that we can name the chair because of the focus NMSU will now have on economic and community development,” he said. “My new responsibilities as vice provost for economic development will require that we enhance our capacity for assisting companies, communities and the state in creating and maintaining high-quality, wealth-creating jobs. The chair holder will be the ‘go-to academic’ for many of the research and educational programs needed to meet this challenge.”
Carruthers served as president of the Cimarron Health Plan from 1993-2003, was governor of New Mexico from 1987-1990, was an assistant U.S. secretary of the interior from 1981-1984, served as special assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture during 1974 and 1975, and was director of the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute at NMSU from 1976-1978.