Date:
10/9/2002
Contact: Wendel Sloan at 505.562.2253
Reporter: Carolyn Edwards
PORTALES – Eastern New Mexico University graduates Sandra (Sandy) Gladden and David W. Harris have been selected to receive the 2002 Outstanding Alumni Awards, presented by the ENMU Alumni Association. The winners will be introduced and honored at the 2002 Friends of Eastern Annual Homecoming Breakfast, Oct. 19, in the Campus Union Ballroom.
Gladden has served for many years on the ENMU Alumni Association Board of Directors and held the offices of
president and secretary. She was honored in 1998 for her "Outstanding Volunteer Service to the University."
Gladden also helped found the Ruidoso Alumni Club and has assisted the members in raising funds for an annual ENMU scholarship benefiting a local student. In addition, she has been an unofficial ambassador of goodwill to students in the area and has represented Eastern in an exemplary manner in her professional contacts throughout the state.
She was selected by the Commission on the Status of Women to receive the Governor's award, "Outstanding Women of New Mexico" in 2000. The New Mexico Coalition of School Administrators selected her as the "New Mexico Administrator of the Year in 1994.
As a member of several volunteer and professional organizations, she has added her talents and enthusiasm to the Part-B State Advisory Panel of Individuals With Disabilities, Lincoln County Mental Health Association, Division of Educational Diagnosticians, the National Association of School Psychologists, the New Mexico Federation of the Council of Exceptional Children, which she served as president and was inducted to that Hall of Fame in 1999. She also has served on the boards of Presbyterian Healthcare Services and the New Mexico Coalition of School Administrators.
Gladden graduated from Eastern in 1972 with a bachelor's degree in special education and elementary education. She completed a master's degree in special education and diagnostics from New Mexico State University in 1980, and she earned Educational Administrative Licensure in May 1982.
Gladden's post-graduate studies included earning hours in several areas including: gifted education, training in mediation, due process hearing officer, Americans With Disabilities Policies/Procedures, an Outcome Based Accreditation Seminar, and specific coursework in special education and computers.
David W. Harris earned a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1971, and has used his Eastern education as the basis for a successful 30-year career in public service to New
| David W. Harris (courtesy photo) |
education as the basis for a successful 30-year career in public service to New Mexico. In 1997, in recognition of his many accomplishments, he received the New Mexico Public Service Award.
Immediately following his ENMU graduation, he joined the state Legislative Finance Committee and served as an analyst from 1972 to 1976 and, later as its staff director.
He worked in several positions as an administrative official in the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administrative from 1989 to 1994. He was named the DFA Cabinet Secretary and severed six years in the administration of Gov. Gary Johnson. During that time he was a member of the State Board of Finance and the State Investment Council and also chaired the Public School Capital Outlay Council. Harris says one of his notable accomplishments as director of the Department of Finance and Administration – Property Control Division, was restoration of the New Mexico Penitentiary after the 1980 prison riot.
Following his "retirement" from full-time employment in 2000, Harris has served, under the leadership of Sen. Stuart Ingle, as the chief financial analyst for the Republican members of the New Mexico Senate. Harris recently was named the financial policy advisor to gubernatorial candidate Bill Richardson.
Distinguished Service Award to Herbert Bergstrom
PORTALES – Retirement is the only "course" that Dr. Herbert Bergstrom ever failed. He hasserved churches, taught Bible classes in Portales and Clovis, taught full-time and part-time for Eastern New Mexico University, and part-time for Chapman College, Clovis Community College, and Wayland Baptist University. In addition, he has been an outstanding citizen and served the Portales-Clovis communities as a minister in many roles.
To honor his "Distinguished Service" to Eastern New Mexico University and to the people of eastern New Mexico, the ENMU Alumni Association selected Dr. Bergstrom as a 2002 Alumni Award recipient. He will be honored at the annual Friends of Eastern Breakfast on Saturday, Oct. 19.
Dr. Bergstrom has spent a total of 30 years as a senior pastor who preached twice each Sunday. Over the years, he estimates he has preached and/or helped with more than 1,000 funerals and conducted 400-plus wedding ceremonies.
In 1946, Dr. Bergstrom earned a bachelor of arts degree from ENMU, a second bachelor's degree in divinity at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1949, and completed his doctorate in theology, also at the Seminary. He served as pastor of the First Baptist Church in Clovis and later at Parkland Baptist Church. He was called from Parkland to be the pastor at First Baptist Church in Portales and served for nine years. Dr. Bergstrom returned to Clovis as associate pastor at Sandia Church.
In addition to his work as a minister, he taught full-time as a visiting professor for ENMU from 1953-1960, and then taught part-time at ENMU for another 29 years. He also has taught Bible courses for Chapman College and Clovis Community College.
He has spoken to civic clubs, presented talks at commencement exercises, anniversaries and reunions, religious groups, and regional meetings of the New Mexico Education Association. His ready wit and repertoire of comical events and jokes has made him a popular choice as an after-dinner speaker for numerous special occasions.
He was a member of the Portales and Clovis Rotary Clubs and was named a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow in 1995. He served as secretary-treasurer on the Board of Directors for the Retirement Ranch in Clovis. For eight years, he taught the non-denominational Men's Bible Class of Clovis. He also taught Bible classes at Golden Acres in Portales and the Senior Citizens Residence Center in Clovis. He and his wife, Sue, were declared "Citizens of the Day" by the mayor of Clovis.
Dr. Bergstrom was member of the Southern Baptist Seminary Board of Trustees for 13 years, was a member of the Southern Baptist Historical Commission for nine years, and has been a contributing editor of the Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists.
Dr. Bergstrom has tried to retire many times but, ironically, retirement is the only "course" that he has failed. Friends and associates in Portales and Clovis continue to ask him to officiate at weddings and funerals and, if his health cooperates, he accepts many of those requests. After he and Sue moved to Lubbock in 1995, he began teaching part-time for Wayland Baptist University in 1996. He serves as a volunteer chaplain for Covenant Hospital in Lubbock where he often calls on people from eastern New Mexico.
Distinguished Service Award to Pat Henry
PORTALES – Pat Henry of Portales has been named to receive a Distinguished Service Award from the EasternNew Mexico University Alumni Association. The award will be presented at the Friends of Eastern annual Homecoming Breakfast, Saturday, Oct. 19.
Henry graduated from ENMU in 1964, with a bachelor's degree in music in education. He and his wife, Jane, married and moved to Lovington where they taught for five years. During that time, in 1966, he was chosen to participate in a Ford Foundation Music Seminar at the University of Oregon.
In 1969, Henry joined the Permian Basin High School as assistant band director. While there, he and Jane performed with the Midland/Odessa Symphony Orchestra and they also were involved in the community theatre productions.
In 1971, Henry was hired as director of the Carlsbad High School Band and taught there until 1989. He belonged to the Carlsbad Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce, and was director of the Carlsbad Music Festival, which attracted bands and choirs from throughout the region.
The Henrys moved to Portales in 1989, where they taught until their retirement. Pat Henry served three additional years as the band and choir director in Farwell, Texas. He also was a student teaching supervisor for ENMU. Henry began serving as local coordinator for the ENMU Alumni Band Reunion, which is held every two years in June. He is proud of the large numbers of his music students who have become music educators, especially the 10 students who followed his lead and graduated from Eastern.
Always active in church work, he directed church choirs in Lovington, Odessa, Carlsbad, and Portales. He served as executive secretary/treasurer for the Southwest New Mexico Music Educators from 1990 to the present.
The Henrys have two daughters and three grandchildren. Their daughters, Pam and Shelly, are teaching school in the Dallas area.
Honorary Alumni Award to Russell Knudson
PORTALES – Each year, the Eastern New Mexico University Alumni Association selects someone to receive
Honorary Alumni status. The 2002 award will be presented to Russell Knudson at the Friends of Eastern Foundation's annual Homecoming Breakfast, Saturday, Oct. 19, in the Campus Union Ballroom.
Knudson and his wife, Wilma, are ardent and loyal fans of ENMU, whether supporting the Foundation and sports programs, or attending a variety of campus events and activities. They regularly attend the weekly Bench Club meetings during the school year.
Knudson served on the Commission on Higher Education for six years and was on the CHE Facilities committee for two years. He has served on the Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, belongs to the Masonic Lodge, Rotary, was chair of the Roosevelt County Labor Relations Board, and was active in both the National Education Association and in the NEA-New Mexico Association, New Mexico Superintendents Association, New Mexico School Masters, and New Mexico School Administrators. He served as vice president of the New Mexico Activities Association for six years.
A former superintendent of the Raton Schools, Knudson received his bachelor's degree from the University of New Mexico in 1950. He completed a master's degree at New Mexico Highlands University in 1955, and was awarded an education specialist degree from Eastern in 1969.
In addition to his degrees, Knudson also attended Colorado State University and Adams State College in Alamoso, Colo., and in 1985, he attended the University of San Francisco Law School.
After serving two years in the United States Navy, he was hired as a teacher and coach for Farley (N.M.) High School and worked three years before being named principal and coach at Farley High School in 1953.
Knudson joined Springer High School as a counselor and coach in 1960 and worked there for three years. In 1963, he began his career in the Portales School System as a teacher and coach at Portales Junior High. In 1965, he was named assistant principal and continued his coaching duties at PJH until he was named principal of Portales High School in 1966. He became superintendent of the Raton Schools in 1972 and was there until he retired in 1984 and returned to Portales.
Knudson has three adult children and all hold doctoral degrees: Roger has a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois; Julie has a Ph.D. in law from the University of San Francisco, and Randy holds a Ph.D. in law from the University of New Mexico.
Sandra Gladden
Herbert Bergstrom
Pat Henry
Russell Knudson
