A commitment of $7 million from Timothy and Bernadette Marquez will help fund the new nursing addition to MSU's Life Sciences Building. Artist's rendering courtesy of the MSU College of Nursing.

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EAST LANSING, Mich. — Timothy and Bernadette Marquez, through The Timothy and Bernadette Marquez Foundation, have committed $7 million to the Michigan State University College of Nursing.

The largest gift in the college’s history, the commitment will be used to help fund a new nursing addition to the MSU Life Sciences Building.

Bernadette Bott Marquez earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the MSU College of Nursing in 1980. A native of Kalamazoo, she has worked for many years as a nurse, most recently at Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center in Denver.

Today she manages a corporate giving program that she established in 2000 for Venoco Inc., a prominent oil and gas company of which her husband, Timothy, is founder, chief executive officer and chairman of the board.

“We are honored to provide financial support for moving this project forward,” said Bernadette Marquez. “I want to leave a legacy at MSU that will enable continued growth and excellence in the nursing program. As an operating room nurse for more than 25 years, I have witnessed firsthand the severity of the nursing shortage. I want to ensure that quality nursing care is available for all of us in our time of need.”

“Community involvement and philanthropy are very important to our lives,” said Timothy Marquez.  “We are passionate about supporting projects that will help bring an end to the national nursing shortage.”

Honoring this legacy and with the MSU Board of Trustees approval, MSU has granted Bernadette Marquez naming rights to the nursing addition.

“This gift will have a lasting impact on generations of nursing students at Michigan State University and has transformed the possibility of the nursing addition into a reality,” said MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon.

Expected to cost $16 million, the nursing addition will be designed to address the future of nursing education and practice with advanced technological solutions, while maintaining the focus of the College of Nursing on care.

Internet, satellite and superior multimedia enhancements will bring worldwide accessibility to the academic and continuing education programs of the College of Nursing. In the new nursing addition, the students’ education will be enriched with opportunities to collaborate with expert faculty and health care professionals on furthering the translation of nursing research into practice.

“Notably, this gift is the single largest philanthropic commitment in the college’s history,” said College of Nursing Dean Mary Mundt. “Bernadette Marquez’ endorsement of this project embodies her personal value of the education she received and the couple’s belief that a nursing education from Michigan State University should be accessible to future generations of students at all levels.”

“In response to the national nursing and nursing faculty shortage and in anticipation of support for a nursing addition, the university strategically increased enrollments more than 110 percent from 2003 to 2007,” Simon said. “We now need to focus on expanding the physical capacity to accommodate our enrollment growth.”

With the commitment from the Timothy and Bernadette Marquez Foundation, nearly 91 percent of the funding needed for the nursing addition project is in place. Further planning for the nursing addition is now under way with final architectural renderings expected in 2009.

“I am honored to be a part of marking a new era of excellence in nursing education at Michigan State University,” said Bernadette Marquez. “I hope others will join my husband and me in this challenge to be a part of history.”

Bernadette Marquez also serves on the Colorado State Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education. Timothy Marquez also is founder and chief executive officer of Marquez Energy LLC. Together, the couple founded The Timothy and Bernadette Marquez Foundation and the Denver Scholarship Foundation. 

To listen to a podcast with Mundt, go to http://spartanpodcast.com/?p=460.

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