by Jeremy Hunt
Daily Lobo
At UNM, there are two ways to get a building named after you: work hard for the University or donate a lot of money.
The University names parts of campus after people who donate to UNM or provide extraordinary service.
It also names scholarships and programs in honor of donors or people who serve the University's mission, according to the Board of Regents' naming policy.
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"Naming ... is one of the highest honors that the University can bestow," the policy states. "This recognition is a lasting and powerful affirmation of the honoree's connection to the University's mission."
Many of the buildings around campus are named in recognition of a person's service to UNM. Johnson Center was named for Bob Johnson, a long-time coach and athletics director.
The guidelines state, "Honorees shall have exemplary character, an unqualified reputation for honesty, personal integrity and the highest standards of personal and professional ethics."
The policy allows people who were not UNM employees, organizations and corporations to be considered for naming recognition if they make a significant financial contribution.
For new facilities - including buildings, classrooms and wings - donors must cover 50 percent of construction costs or $3 million, whichever is greater.
Naming the Centennial Engineering Center would require a donation of about $24 million.
There will be a classroom in the center named for Jaynes Corporation, which made a $100,000
donation.
To name a facility after it has been renovated, a donor must cover 75 percent of the cost of renovation. A $575,000 donation for the renovation of the Anderson Schools of Management building resulted in the Paul R. Jackson Student Center.
Naming the Communication and Journalism Building after it was renovated would require a donation of $3.9 million.
For existing facilities, donors must pay 75 percent of the market value of the facility.
However, the policy's guidelines are subject to the regents' discretion.
To name an endowment or professorship, full funding must be donated.
The policy states it is expected that the names of facilities, spaces, endowments and programs in honor of individuals will last the lifetime of what has been named.
Names in honor of corporations or organizations will have a set number of years determined by the regents and signed into a gift agreement, the policy states.
The Office of Advancement doesn't have records for naming recognition before 2005.
When something is named after a donation is made, the person recognized is not usually who made the donation, said Michael Kingan, director of the Office of Advancement.
Kingan said donors often want to honor a faculty or staff member who died.
To get something named in recognition of a donation, a person, organization or corporation must make a request to UNM's Naming Committee, he said.
The committee reviews the request and donation to make sure it falls within the guidelines, he said.
If the committee approves it, the request goes to the regents' Finance and Facilities Committee, which recommends to the Board of Regents whether it should be approved.
In some instances, a person for whom something is named made a donation and provided service to UNM. That was the case for the Rudy Davalos Basketball Center, said Regent Mel Eaves, chairman of the Finance and Facilities Committee.
It was named for the former athletics director who donated $250,000
to UNM.
"He didn't give the money that would satisfy the requirement, but it was based on his service to the University as athletics director," he said.
Eaves said that when the regents review a naming request for service to UNM, they use the policy's guidelines to make a decision.
It means a lot to have something at UNM named in honor of someone, Eaves said.
"When a great university like the University of New Mexico names a building after someone, that's a huge honor," he said.
Something should not be named for a person if they still work at UNM or hold elected office unless the circumstances are extraordinary such as the Domenici Center and Barbara and Bill Richardson Pavilion at the Health Sciences Center, Eaves said.
Gov. Richardson and Sen. Pete Domenici put in extra effort to get money to help build UNM, he said.
"Universities are very dependent on the receipt of federal and state funds," he said. "Those are things almost everybody can agree should be recognized."
Kingan said some people don't want to have something named after them because of a donation.
"Sometimes, we actually have to pursue donors to be recognized because we think it's a good thing to recognize," he said.
Kingan said that having their name on the University motivates some people to donate, but it's not usually the case.
"They're wanting to make that gift because they want to do something good, but they also want that recognition," he said. "It's always a much more complex decision than just that one factor."
Naming requests in 2007
Structure Donation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation at Center for Health
Johnson Gallery $22,500,000
The Geoffrey S.M. Hedrick Diagnostic Imaging Suite
UNM Hospital $2,500,000
Paul R. Jackson Student Center
Anderson Schools of Management $575,000
The Ellis-Clark Taos Moderns Gallery
Harwood Museum (Taos) $250,000
Tom and Ruth Nesbitt Engineering Classrooms
First Floor, Centennial Engineering Center $250,000
Bohannan - Huston Inc. Civil Engineering Computer Lab
Third Floor, Centennial Engineering Center $125,000
Fern Hogue Mitchell Education Center
Harwood Museum (Taos) $100,000
Jaynes Corporation Classroom
First Floor, Centennial Engineering Center $100,000
New Mexico Build Engineering Student Services Conference Room
Second Floor, Centennial Engineering Center $50,000
Mechanical Contractors Association Computer Lab
Second Floor, Centennial Engineering Center $50,000
Klinger Contractors Civil Engineering Classroom
First Floor, Centennial Engineering Center $50,000
Jim Warne Jr. Civil Engineering Conference Room and Group Study Room
Second and Third floors, Centennial Engineering Center $48,920
Pamela and Don Michaelis Gallery
Tamarind Institute $16,000
Civil Engineering Emeriti Faculty Conference Room
Third Floor, Centennial Engineering Center $15,000
