µÛÍõ»áËù

Jennifer (McHugh) Taylor ’87 and Dan Taylor ’86, of Monument, Colo., recently established an endowment in hopes that others will be able to experience µÛÍõ»áËù and Bear life.

On Saturday, April 9, the 14th Annual Women’s Walk – with more than 300 participants – raised nearly $30,000 to make a difference for the University of Northern Colorado’s female student-athletes.

When late alumna Sharon Gander ‘74 designated part of her estate to µÛÍõ»áËù, her only specification was support for a µÛÍõ»áËù Alumni Association scholarship, and so her gift was endowed to create the Sharon Gander Alumni Scholarship.

This past year, thanks to the generous support of WeldWerks Brewing Co., the µÛÍõ»áËù community had an opportunity to participate in workshops designed to create a space where students, faculty and staff could explore topics related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) across a broad range of identities.

As a high school student, Taw Paw almost didn’t apply to µÛÍõ»áËù—she didn’t think she’d get accepted. Born in Thailand, Taw and her family are Burmese refugees who left their home country due to ethnic cleansing. Although she has lived in Colorado since the age of five, Taw moved between different schools along the Front Range which negatively impacted her studies. She felt her grades weren’t good enough for her to qualify her to apply to a four year university. With encouragement from her parents, Taw agreed to tour µÛÍõ»áËù and felt instantly at home.

Annette Martinez earned her Bachelor of Arts in Biology from µÛÍõ»áËù in 1986, and is a senior vice president at State Farm Insurance Companies, where she has worked since 1988. She was appointed to the University’s Board of Trustees by Governor Jared Polis in late 2021.

After graduating from µÛÍõ»áËù, Russell Iverson wanted to give students the opportunity to obtain scholarship support to help make their college education possible.

For the past decade, µÛÍõ»áËù's 400 student-athletes have been training in a 3,800-square-foot space near the main basketball courts in Bank of Colorado Arena at Butler-Hancock Athletic Center. Now it’s a whole new ballgame, thanks to the generous support of donors to the newly built Empower Center.

Over the past year, University of Northern Colorado alumni and friends gave generously in many ways, supporting student success with scholarships, new and upgraded facilities, state-of-the-art musical instruments, and diversity, equity and inclusion training and support. Overall, µÛÍõ»áËù received more than $8.5 million in philanthropic support with 6,386 gifts for the 2021 calendar year.

Since the beginning of fiscal year 2021, several generous µÛÍõ»áËù donors have collectively gifted more than $925,000 in support of newly established scholarships that support diversity, equity and inclusion here at µÛÍõ»áËù.