NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Leah Jackson (jacksonl@nsula.edu)
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
http://www.nsula.edu/news
6/05/2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES- Northwestern State University Foundation benefactors Ellis and Juanita Martinez Coutee of Baton Rouge have increased an earlier pledge honoring a former mathematics professor from an endowed scholarship to a $100,000 endowed professorship in math. The Coutees will contribute $60,000 to be matched by the Board of Regents Support Fund
Earlier this year, the Coutees pledged $25,000 towards an endowed scholarship in honor of Dr. William Timon, to recognize Timon as an individual who was influential over their lives and careers. The Coutee’s have increased that pledge to create the endowed professorship.
Timon was a mathematics faculty member at NSU from 1954-65. Timon passed away in 2005.
Mrs. Coutee, a native of Zwolle, earned a degree in mathematics and business education in 1958 and a master’s in mathematics in 1960. Mr. Coutee, an Alexandria native and 1960 graduate of Northwestern, earned a degree in accounting. After successful careers in business, the Coutees are now tax consultants. In 2005, the Coutees were inducted into NSU’s Graduate Hall of Distinction, the Long Purple Line. In addition to the Timon Professorship and the Coutee Professorship in Mathematics, the Coutees were instrumental in creating the Dudley Downing Scholarship and the Kenneth I. Durr Professorship for the College of Business.
“Teachers are very important, for they are molding the minds of the young ones who will be leading our country,” said Mrs. Coutee. “It is very special to us to be able to honor a teacher for whom I have always had the greatest respect and to help the school that gave us our start in life. The professorship should serve both purposes.”
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