Date:
9/29/2005
Contact: Wendel Sloan at 505.562.2253
PORTALES—The Eastern New Mexico University Foundation will presentthree awards at the ENMU Foundation Breakfast this Saturday, Oct. 1, inthe Campus Union Ballroom in Portales. The awards are for Business ofthe Year, Philanthropists of the Year, and Volunteers of the Year.
Business of the Year
Calton Research Associates
Duringthe summer of 2005, Gary and Sandy Calton's Maryland-based company,Calton Research Associates, donated enough laboratory researchequipment to ENMU to fill two large semi-truck size moving vans. Thisgift of research equipment has enhanced Eastern's scientific researchto a competitive level with other universities in the region.
Garyand Sandy Calton established Calton Research Associates in 1978.Interestingly, Calton has made several inventions, all of which areimportant to medicine and science: e.g., a medical test for herpes, anew treatment strategy for certain cancers, vaccines, nutritionalsupplements for patients dealing with cancer or who are on kidneydialysis, industrial treatment of wastes, etc. The list is long.
This"In Kind" donation helped save ENMU over $700,000 (retail value) inequipment costs which the science department faculty could only dreamabout purchasing in the future. Gary and Sandy Calton are also involvedin Glen Burnie Church of Christ in Maryland where Gary has been thefull-time preacher for over 13 years. Calton visited the ENMU campusearlier this spring and learned that the Science Building was going toundergo some major modernization renovations over the next couple yearsand that the equipment would be most useful to the ENMU faculty andstudents especially in microbiology.
Tohonor his parents for their strong commitment to an ENMU education fortheir family, Gary and Sandy have asked ENMU to rename the main lecturehall in the Science Building the George and Clytie Calton Lecture Hall,which was dedicated Friday, Sept. 30.
Philanthropists of the Year
Albert E. (Al) and Lacy Whitehead
Graduatingwith a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1955, AlWhitehead founded and co-founded several oil companies and is currentlychairman and C.E.O. of Empire Petroleum Corporation in Tulsa, Okla. Hiswife, Lacy, has been by his side the entire time.
Whiteheadhas been a member of the ENMU Alumni Board since 1985, serving on manyimportant committees and supporting the alumni scholarship program. Asa former Greyhound, he remains active in the ENMU Bench Club and helpswith many fundraising activities. Most recently, Al and Lacy funded theAthletic Scholarship truck raffle of 2005 and a previous Bench Clubtruck raffle seven years ago. Over the years, they also have supportedthe Albert E. and Lacy Whitehead Endowed Scholarship in Marketing andthe Albert E. and Lacy Whitehead Endowment for Theatre, as well as the2023 Endowment, the Slone Band Fund, Center Stage, Starter Scholarshipsand various other scholarships.
Theyare very instrumental in encouraging others to volunteer andfinancially support ENMU, whether it is for membership on the AlumniBoard or assisting by providing the grand prizes for the athleticscholarship truck raffles.
Volunteers of the Year
Theta Zeta Chapter of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity
TheKappa Sigma Fraternity as a group these last two years have supportedthe ENMU Foundation tremendously. The Kappa Sigma Fraternity raisedfunds two years in a row for the Foundation with their annual Cow PattyDrop. This year the Cow Patty Drop raised $6,000 for Campaign Eastern.The Fraternity also gave an additional portion of their funds to theDan Buzard Cancer Fund.
Thefraternity members also volunteered to work the first annual MudVolleyball Tournament hosted by the Student Senate in April whichhelped raise $1,000 for scholarships. The fraternity members alsostaffed the two Campaign Eastern phone-a-thons with full crews to callalumni.
Established as an ENMUfraternity in 1962, the Kappa Sigma fraternity is currently the largeston campus with over 80 members and has over 500 alumni, many of whomsupported the ENMU Foundation Campaign Eastern fundraising effort. As agroup, the members earned over 4,000 community service hours the lasttwo years and donated over $13,000 to charities including Habitat forHumanity, ENMU Foundation, and the Dan Buzard Cancer Fund.
Currentchapter President is Bryan Frapp. Past president was Eric Smith. Manyof the fraternity members are involved in leadership positions oncampus including the current student body vice president, Anton Illiuk,and last year's student body president, Brett Trembly.