Michigan State University (MSU) graduates Timothy and Bernadette Marquez, recently gave MSU $7 million for the $16 million planned nursing addition to the Life Sciences Building.
The $16 million addition is expected to meet the growing demand for nursing students. College of Nursing enrollments grew by more than 110 percent from 2003 to 2007, says MSU's president, Lou Anna K. Simon.
“Notably, this gift is the single largest philanthropic commitment in the College’s history,” says the dean of the College of Nursing, Mary Mundt. “Bernadette Marquez’s endorsement of this project embodies her personal value of the education she received and the couple’s belief that a nursing education from Michigan State University should be accessible to future generations of students at all levels.”
Marquez graduated from MSU in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing. She worked as a nurse for years, but today she manages a corporate giving program for Venoco, Inc., an oil and gas company.
The school now has 91 percent of the necessary funding for the addition. More than 250 people have given money to the school for the addition. Architectural renderings of the addition should be complete by 2009.
To hear a podcast about the development, click here.
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.