Alumni Gift Matched to Endow Scholarships
Spring 2011 · Comment ·
Ignacio Nuñez’s parents taught him the value of a good education long before he was a successful Arlington doctor or a UT Arlington Distinguished Alumnus. Now, Dr. Nuñez and his wife, Lynda, are honoring his mother with the Carmen Trujillo Nuñez Pre-Med Scholarship. The couple also have established a second scholarship named after Lynda Nuñez’s mother. The endowment for both scholarships is $50,000, a combination of a $25,000 gift from the Nuñez family and $25,000 from the University’s Maverick Match program. Ignacio Nuñez has practiced obstetrics/gynecology in Arlington for 27 years, and he served as president of the medical staff at Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital from 2008 to 2010. He graduated from UT Arlington with a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1975 and went on to attend UT Southwestern Medical School at Dallas. “My mother was an avid reader who bestowed upon me several gifts that have served me well. First is a shared love of reading, second an insatiable curiosity, and third an adventurous life as a child traveling with my family to wherever my father was stationed,” Dr. Nuñez says. “My mother always told me that I was just as capable as anyone else, regardless of race or social standing. I believed her.” Through Maverick Match, the University uses natural gas royalties to leverage major gifts. Philanthropic partners who make endowments of $25,000 or more see their contributions doubled. The endowment will provide a $1,125 scholarship for a pre-med student and a $1,125 scholarship for an English major. The second scholarship is called the Evelyn Anita Sawyer Ray Endowed Scholarship in English. Lynda Nuñez graduated from UT Arlington in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in English.
