Sandberg gifts $5 million to Marshall, Dr. Ron Area retires, Fountain Ceremony scheduled and more.

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Official Newsletter of the Marshall University Foundation and Alumni Association | November 2024

A letter from the president and CEO of The Marshall University Foundation

Greetings Herd Family,

I hope you and your loved ones are healthy and well and looking forward to the upcoming holiday season. It has been an incredibly busy and productive fall here on our beautiful campus, and on behalf of the Marshall University Foundation, thank you for your support of our students, faculty, staff, and community.

Staci and I are humbled to be attending our first Memorial Fountain Ceremony next week, as we honor the 75 lives that were tragically cut short on that rainy night 54 years ago. We look forward to meeting many family members, hearing stories about their loved ones, and celebrating the rise of Marshall since that dark day.

The Marshall University Foundation Board of Directors had its fall meeting October 16-18 in Huntington. Thank you to the board for their outstanding work advancing the mission of the Foundation, and for their support of the foundation and alumni relations staff. At the close of the meeting, we celebrated outgoing Foundation CEO Dr. Ron Area and his wife Beth for their 17 years of service to our community. Thanks to the generosity of many of our friends and alumni, we raised nearly $450,000 in honor of Ron and his visionary leadership while naming the Dr. Ronald G. Area Conference Center in Brad D. Smith Foundation Hall. You may read more about Ron's achievements and retirement celebration below.

Congratulations to our Men's Soccer Team for their undefeated record in regular season SBC play this season (4-0-5) and No. 2 seed in the upcoming SBC tournament. For more information on the tournament and to get tickets, please visit herdzone.com.

Finally, last week we were thrilled to announce a transformational $5 million gift from the Sandberg Goldberg Bernthal Charitable Foundation to the Marshall For All, Marshall Forever program. This generous donation will positivity affect so many lives of Marshall students, and we are beyond grateful for the support. You may read more about this extraordinary gift below.

As always, if there is anything I can do, please don't hesitate to reach out to me directly. We appreciate all you do for Marshall. And Go Herd!

Nico

Sandberg Goldberg Bernthal Charitable Foundation gifts $5 million toward Marshall For All

Marshall University has announced a gift of $5 million from the Sandberg Goldberg Bernthal Charitable Foundation to support the Marshall For All program. The foundation was founded by Sheryl Sandberg, former chief operating officer of Meta and founder of Lean In.

Fountain Ceremony to feature grandson of team physician

Fifty-four years ago, on a rainy Nov. 14, 1970, Southern Airways Flight 932 crashed into a hillside as it approached Tri-State Airport with 75 Thundering Herd coaches, teammates, staff, supporters and flight crew members on board. The loss to not only the families of the victims in the crash, but the entire Huntington community, was immediately felt.

Marshall to host seventh-seeded ODU in quarterfinals of SBC

The eighth-ranked Marshall Men's Soccer team closed out the regular season with a scoreless draw at home to the No. 10 West Virginia Mountaineers Tuesday night at Hoops Family Field. Marshall enters the Sun Belt Conference Tournament as the two seed and will host the seventh-seeded Old Dominion Monarchs at 3 p.m. on Sunday in the quarterfinals at Hoops Family Field.

ALUMNI NEWS

'Marshall for Marshall' supports hurricane victims

In an uncertain time, members of the Herd family are stepping up.

The Raleigh-Durham Alumni Chapter is "adopting" Marshall, North Carolina, and planning a year-long effort to help residents while they rebuild from Hurricane Helene. The town is also named for U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall.

To learn more about the chapter's efforts, please visit the chapter's Facebook page.

The 75 Family Alumni Chapter to sell T-shirts

The Marshall University 75 Family Alumni Chapter has announced a collaboration with Marshall Athletics and Glenn's Sporting Goods Inc. to create a special shirt for the Nov. 16 memorial game.

The shirt will be the same design the athletic staff will be wearing on the field. Five dollars from every shirt purchased will go to the 75 Family Scholarship Fund. The shirts will go on sale Nov. 11. Shirts will be available in store and online.

ALUMNI & CHAPTERS INFO

FOUNDATION NEWS

Dr. Ron Area retires as CEO of the Marshall University Foundation

The Marshall University Foundation announces the retirement of Dr. Ronald G. “Ron” Area. The Foundation hosted a retirement celebration for Area Oct. 18 at Brad D. Smith Foundation Hall with donors, board members, staff and campus partners in attendance.

The Foundation also recognized Area’s wife, Elizabeth “Beth” Area for their shared support of the university the past 17 years.

Nicolas “Nico” Karagosian replaces Area and began serving as president and CEO of the Foundation on Aug. 19. Area served as CEO since July 2007.

“We are incredibly grateful for Ron and Beth’s 17 years of remarkable service and leadership,” Karagosian said. “Their dedication to Marshall University and its community has left an enduring influence that will be felt for generations. As we celebrate Ron’s retirement, we honor their legacy of to the Marshall family. Ron’s work has set a high standard, and we look forward to building on the strong foundation he has established.”

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Society of Yeager Scholars to present 2024 symposium lecture, 'Arts in Appalachia'

The Society of Yeager Scholars at Marshall University will present the 2024 Symposium Lecture, “Arts in Appalachia,” featuring a keynote speech by Leah Turley, creative artistic director of the Appalachian Artists Collective and director of Marshall University Theatre ETC. The event will highlight the rich artistic traditions and the importance of the arts for empowering communities in the Appalachian region. This event is free and open to the public, with no registration required.

The event takes place at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, at the Brad D. Smith Center for Business and Innovation.

Marshall announces partnership with Kanawha County Schools

Marshall University is proud to announce a joint effort with Kanawha County Schools to simplify the college admission process for high school seniors.

The announcement comes amid the statewide College Application and Exploration Week. Through this program, Marshall University will automatically accept any Kanawha County Schools senior in the Class of 2025 with a GPA of 2.5 or greater, with no admissions application required. The new program eliminates the traditional application process, providing a seamless and stress-free transition for students pursuing a four-year degree.

MORE CAMPUS NEWS

Class notes are a great way to stay up-to-date with news from former classmates and other alumni, faculty and staff, and other members of the Marshall family!

Lesa Null-Bostic (’83, ’85) is a graduate of Marshall’s Bachelors in Nursing Science program, and having functioned and excelled in many facets of the nursing profession fulfilled a dream of entrepreneurship when she opened Oodles, a Unique Boutique in Hurricane, West Virginia in 2013. Oodles has been awarded the achievement of “Best in the Tri-State” and has been voted Best Gift Shoppe for 11 of 11 years by The Herald-Dispatch and the Charleston Gazette-Mail readers.

Deborah Chapman (’73, ’81) was presented with the West Virginia Career Technical Education Distinguished Service Award on Sept. 4, 2024, during the Fall Career Technical Education Administrators Conference in Canaan Valley, West Virginia. This award is given to Career Technical Education professionals for their leadership, commitment and innovations in CTE and their contributions to the field over an extended period of time.