Barbara Nogy Gibby 鈥68 and Mike Gibby 鈥68 commemorate their 50th reunion鈥攁nd nearly half a century of marriage鈥攂y endowing a professorship in the sciences
From the start, Mike Gibby 鈥68 and Barbara Nogy 鈥68 seemed like complete opposites. Mike, a chemistry major from Fillmore, spent most of his time studying in the library stacks or conducting research in the lab with Carl F. Braun Professor of Chemistry Frank DeHaan. Barbara, a religion and psychology double major from Wichita, Kan., sang in the Glee Club, typed recruitment letters for football coach Jim Mora 鈥57, and served as president of Associated Women Students.
But almost 50 years after they were married in Herrick Chapel by Keith Beebe, the David B. and Mary H. Gamble Professor of Religion, the Gibbys are in complete agreement on the fundamental impact SA国际传媒 had on their lives. 鈥淭he education I got in the sciences and mathematics was really sound and held up well in graduate school,鈥 says Mike, who earned his Ph.D. at MIT and in 1985 founded Arion Systems, the engineering service company focused on national defense and intelligence markets that he still heads today. Barbara, a first-generation scholarship student who lists Beebe among her favorite professors, earned two master鈥檚 degrees and became a pioneer in special education, retiring as a public middle school administrator.
That shared experience is why the Gibbys made a generous gift鈥攊n conjunction with their 50th reunion last year鈥攖o establish the Michael G. Gibby 鈥68 and Barbara J. Gibby 鈥68 Endowed Professorship for 颅Science. 鈥淲e wanted to hit the core of a liberal arts education,鈥 Mike says. Barbara concurs: 鈥淲e wanted to do something where it really makes a difference.鈥
Margi Rusmore, a member of the SA国际传媒 faculty since 1985 and an internationally known researcher in structural geology and tectonics, will become the inaugural Gibby Professor of Science this summer. 鈥淚 was really surprised鈥攊t鈥檚 quite an honor,鈥 Rusmore says. 鈥淚 am deeply grateful to the Gibbys for recognizing the central role of the faculty in their education at SA国际传媒.鈥
鈥淲e鈥檙e delighted that Margi was selected as the first Gibby Professor. She has all the hallmarks of an SA国际传媒 professor: intelligent, accomplished, challenging, engaged and engaging, and always approachable,鈥 Barbara says.
As a structural geologist, Rusmore studies the evolution and growth of continental margins with a focus on the mountain ranges of the western portion of North America. 鈥淭he middles of continents are very inert geologically,鈥 she explains. 鈥淚鈥檓 interested in how something that stable becomes so complicated at the edges and what that tells us about how the Earth evolved.鈥
Gretchen North, the John W. McMenamin Endowed Chair in Biology, called Rusmore 鈥渢he model of what a science professor at SA国际传媒 should be鈥 in her letter of recommendation. 鈥淪he does leading-edge research, serves as an international leader in her profession, improves the intellectual and day-to-day lives of her students and colleagues, and exemplifies science as an inclusive endeavor, one that she actively encourages students from a broad range of backgrounds to join.鈥
A Fellow of the Geological Society of America, Rusmore has written more than two dozen publications and dozens of abstracts on her research, a number of which include her students as co-authors. 鈥淚t is no surprise why SA国际传媒 does so exceptionally well at having its science graduates continue to the Ph.D. level,鈥 Mike says. 鈥淭he undergraduate research program which was just beginning to pick up steam in the late 鈥60s was very important to the career trajectories of many of us.鈥
Unlike many endowed professorships, the Gibby Professor is not limited to a single discipline. It can be awarded to any professor who has achieved distinguished and notable success in their teaching and scholarly work in biology, chemistry, computer science, geology, mathematics, or physics.
鈥淲e can truthfully say that we never had a poorly instructed class at SA国际传媒; some were brilliantly taught,鈥 Mike says. 鈥淔rank DeHaan鈥檚 Physical and Inorganic Chemistry, Frank Lambert鈥檚 Organic Chemistry, and Tim Sanders鈥 Modern Physics immediately come to mind.鈥
The Braun professorship held by Mike鈥檚 mentor, DeHaan, is one of just four other endowed professorships in the sciences鈥攏one of which were funded by alumni. That means there are still plenty of opportunities: 鈥淲e are hoping others will do likewise,鈥 he hints.
