NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

01/22/2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES- Ellis Coutee and his wife, Melva Juanita Martinez Coutee are strong believers in giving back to their alma mater, Northwestern State University.

The Coutees of Baton Rouge have established two endowed scholarships and have continued their generosity with a gift to the NSU Foundation to set up the Ellis Coutee and Melva Juanita Martinez Coutee Endowed Professorship in Mathematics. The professorship will be set up over three years with gifts from the Coutees and matching gifts from the ExxonMobil Foundation. The $60,000 gift will be matched with $40,000 from the Board of Regents Support Fund to create a $100,000 endowed professorship. This endowed professorship will be the 23rd at NSU and the first in mathematics.

"We hope this action will whet the appetite of other alumni and cause them to take a second look at their capability of giving," said Ellis Coutee. "We hope the students and faculty in mathematics can benefit from this professorship. Northwestern gave each of us what we needed when we needed it. Northwestern was the springboard to success."

A portion of the interest generated by the endowment each year will be used to fund classroom instruction, faculty research, purchase needed software and hardware and cover needed travel to professional conferences. The remaining portion will be used to build up the endowment.

"The Department of Mathematics is honored and delighted by the generosity of Ellis and Melva Coutee," said Dr. Frank Serio, head of the Department of Mathematics. "This first endowed professorship in mathematics will strengthen our program through expanded research and travel opportunities. Since faculty-student collaboration is an integral part of our mathematics curriculum, this gift will also enhance the educational experience of all our students."

Ellis and Melva Juanita Martinez Coutee are both Northwestern alumni. Ellis Coutee, a 1960 graduate in accounting, is a native of Alexandria. While a student, he was a member of the honorary business fraternity, Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, the Newman Club and was on the Interfraternity Council for two years. Ellis Coutee is a former senior revenue agent and life insurance specialist with the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He is in the consulting business with Coutee and Coutee Tax Consultants.

That success may not have happened for Ellis Coutee if Northwestern did not provide him with a work-study scholarship in the Graphic Arts Department for two years. The scholarship paid him 45 cents an hour for 50 hours a month, and then was increased up to 120 hours a month.

"The support may have seemed like a small amount, but it was gigantic to me. It made the difference in me being able to attend Northwestern or any university," he said. "Northwestern was good to us. I'm not sure if I could have gotten a formal higher education without the assistance."

"Ellis proved to be a diligent and dependable worker with a positive attitude--attributes that were not always present in some who worked for 40 cents an hour which was the rate of pay for student employment at that time," said former Northwestern faculty member Dr, Charles Wommack of Shreveport. "I got to know Ellis on a personal level, and I like to believe that we both benefited from that association -- I know I did. During his time as a student at NSU, Ellis was a pleasure to be around and could be depended upon to exercise mature and sound judgment. I feel sure that his success in the business world was due to the same traits shown during his student career."

Juanita Coutee was also assisted by a work-study scholarship as well as a T.H. Harris Scholarship. She earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and business education in 1958 and a master's degree in mathematics in 1960. Juanita Coutee was a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and the Math Club at Northwestern. A native of Zwolle, she is a former systems associate with Exxon and is now a tax consultant with her husband.

"When I came to Northwestern, she was in her first semester. She was a very good student who did well," said Dr. William Timon, a mathematics faculty member at Northwestern from 1954 until 1965. "I am grateful that she and Ellis have been so successful and have been able to make this donation to Northwestern. It's great that they chose to use this donation in the Department of Mathematics."

After working in the Graphic Arts Department, Ellis Coutee worked as a bookkeeper at Acme Cement Products Company which helped him meet people in the community.

"Natchitoches is so fortunate to have so many good people," said Coutee. "They left a real impression on me because they were always so nice. People did a lot of small things for me that may not have meant much to them, but left a lasting impact on me."

It was while they were in school, attending a function at the Newman (Catholic Student) Center, that Ellis Coutee met the former Juanita Martinez. They dated off and on before getting married in 1959.

Juanita Coutee taught at Fair Park High School in Shreveport before she obtained her master's degree. She was then offered a job with Exxon and began work with the Math, Computing, and Systems Department as the first female professional in the company. During her tenure, she programmed, designed or supervised on every computer system then in existence at the company. She also contributed to systems in use company wide.

Ellis Coutee is an enrolled agent, a professional tax practitioner who has technical expertise in the field of taxation and is licensed to represent taxpayers before the IRS at all administrative levels.

"I came to Northwestern with a desire to succeed and the university did nothing to diminish that," said Ellis Coutee. "It also gave me additional values and principles I have used throughout my life.

If just one person can benefit from what we have done and can receive the benefits of what Northwestern has to offer, then I feel like I have in some way repaid what Northwestern has done for me. I feel like it is incumbent on all Northwestern alumni to give something back to the university."

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