Faculty Support is Student Support

Tim Welch (Class of 1986, Civil Engineering) was inspired to contribute to NDSU because of the faculty members and professors who shaped his career. “My professors really made a huge difference in my education,” he says. Tim is passionate about making sure students at his alma mater get the same level of support he did. After funding three different scholarships, he and his wife, Donna, now have a fund supporting Professor Ying Huang with research costs, equipment, and anything else she may need for her research. This allows her to hire students to work with her, giving them real lab experience instead of having to work part time off campus. He says more than anything, he wants to give back.

“I want professors to know how important they can be to students.”

Tim Welch, 1986, Civil Engineering

Margaret and her husband, Hugh Veit ’79, established the Eleanor S. Fitzgerald Memorial Graduate Student Scholarship to support NDSU students earning advanced degrees in the Department of Health, Nutrition, and Exercise Sciences or the Department of Human Development and Family Science.

Core areas of home economics remain part of current NDSU degree programs such as accounting; apparel, retail merchandising, and design; education; family and consumer science; financial planning; human development and family science; interior design; and nutrition science.

Home economics programs opened doors, particularly for women, to earn college degrees and pursue careers in education, Extension, state and federal government, business and industry, health care, and more. NDAC listed domestic economy as one of its courses in its founding year, 1890.

Established by Dr. Teresa Conner, dean of the NDSU College of Health and Human Sciences, and co-chaired by Dr. Margaret Fitzgerald ’83 and Col. Esther Meyers ’75, the Wisdom Keepers provide support and share their knowledge and expertise with students, faculty, staff, and leadership in the College.

The home management house at NDAC was the first facility built on a college campus specifically for home management practice. In 1954, it was named in honor of Alba Bales, the first female academic dean at NDAC.