Scholarship Donors

The Betty Fugatt Nitske Memorial
Music Scholarships

"A real lady" is how a friend of the late Betty Nitske recalls their college friend and fellow alumna of the music sorority SAI.

Betty Fugatt came to UNM as a freshman in 1933, and graduated with a music degree in 1937. In those days when a woman graduated with a music degree, it was expected that she would teach. And so Betty taught--pre-schoolers in the first year after graduation, and music to children the year after that.

And then Betty Fugatt met W. Robert Nitske, a friend of her brother's, and they married in 1939.

Betty Nitske and her husband embarked upon a wonderful life together--57 years! In the early days Mr. Nitske ran a variety store in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, then purchased one of his own in Colorado. Betty wound up running the store after her husband was drafted; she continued to run it while he was later hospitalized with Guilliane-Barre syndrome which left him paralyzed for several months, and substantially weakened after that. After selling the store in Colorado and moving to Santa Barbara, Mr. Nitske took up writing, and ever since has been writing about cars--Mercedes-Benz to be precise--from books, to monthly articles for Road & Track. And Betty took up her music again, assisting churches when they needed it; as choir director, organist and soloist. Eventually they moved to Tucson in hopes that the drier climate would help Betty's rheumatoid arthritis.

Mr. Nitske's writing took him to Europe every other year, and it was there that Betty became familiar with the newly popular bell choirs, and added composing to her repertoire of musical endeavors. In fact she composed several pieces for voice choir and bell choir. So even though arthritis kept Betty Nitske from playing piano and organ, she was able to continue her music through composing.

When Betty died in July 1996, her husband notified the University that he was making a gift of $100,000 from Betty's estate to endow scholarships for music students. This past year the first of three Betty Nitske Memorial Music Scholarships was awarded, and Mr. Nitske came to campus recently to meet one of the student recipients and to hear his wife's music performed by UNM's Concert Choir. This "real lady" Betty Nitske and her gift to her alma mater are allowing music students like her to be created here at UNM in perpetuity. What a wonderful gift!

Surrounded by "beautiful things" and grateful for the community in which she has spent the past 48 years. Marva Vollmar decided to create four scholarships in the College of Fine Arts to help "pay back" all that she has gotten. Three of the four scholarships are for music students: The Harry and Rose Kravitz Scholarship named for her late parents; The Dr. Harvey Kravitz and Nancy Kravitz Scholarship named for her late brother and niece from Chicago; and the Paul J. Vollmar, Jr. Scholarship named for her late husband. The fourth scholarship, named for her, is for students studying 3-D/sculpture in the Department of Art and Art History.

How did Marva Vollmar come to have so much art and music in her life? For one, her father was an oriental rug dealer and through him she developed a keen appreciation for wonderful Chinese and Japanese works of art--her personal collection encompassing rugs, temple gongs, baskets, tapestries, musical instruments, porcelains, jewelry, sculpture and more. In addition to her Oriental art collection, she also has a wonderful collection of paintings and prints by contemporary artists, including pieces by Raymond Jonson and Howard Schleeter. For many of the 48 years that she has lived in Albuquerque, Marva Vollmar had three art galleries, the Noskin Gallery in Old Town, then two Vollmar Galleries in Old Town and near the University on Central. In addition to her galleries, Marva Vollmar was the Oriental art and antique jewelry appraiser for Sunwest Bank.

And what about her love of music? Always an avid concert goer, she met members of the music department faculty, like George Robert and Kurt Frederick, and came to appreciate the educational opportunities at the University. A former member of the June Music Festival board in Albuquerque, Marva has kept pace with music events and happenings in town for many, many years.

When asked what she would like the recipients of her scholarships to know about their benefactor, she said matter of faculty, "She is a great lover of the arts." And by her support of the scholarships at UNM College of Fine Arts, Marva is helping to insure that there will be people around making art for others to enjoy. We are grateful to Marva Vollmar for her gifts.

Why do they do it? They do it because the University has been a good neighbor to them, so they think they should be good neighbors in return.

Both of their children, Mark and Shannon, received B.A.s from UNM; Mark also received his M.D. from UNM Medical School, and Shannon is newly-minted J.D. from UNM Law School. The restaurant itself has expanded from one dining room, open from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., to today's restaurant, packing them into five dinging rooms, 24-hours a day. In addition to the Frontier, the Rainoseks own much of the real estate across from the University which is one of the reasons they offered to pay for the remodel of the Tamarind. The building into which the Tamarind wanted to expand last year is owned by the Rainoseks--and Tamarind could not use UNM funds for the renovation because it didn't belong to the University. So the Rainoseks agreed to lease the space to Tamarind for a reduced rate, and to remodel the space and create the new gallery. Says Tamarind director Marge Devon, "They're the best neighbors we could ever have."

The Henry Luce Foundation American Art Dissertation Research Awards will give a total of $25,000 to UNM Art History dissertation candidates over five years. The grant recognizes the UNM Department of Art and Art History's "commitment to American art history" and was one of six awarded nationwide in 1997. This year, partial fellowships of $2,500 went to both Andree Flageolle and Adrianne Santini for research materials and travel.

Flageolle's dissertation sets Dahl-Wolfe's work in its era when, as a woman entrepreneur, the photographer was working within the rapidly changing social and cultural forces of the United States.

American consumerism and the shifting image of "feminity" to serve governmental needs in the 1940s will be juxtaposed with the fetishization of women. The last decade of the artist's career includes the era of the Cold War when women photographers and outlets for fashion photography in general were diminishing in number.

As domestic and sacred structures, tipis allow one to experience Plains Indian cosmology while simultaneously encoding the beliefs relating to it. Her work will focus on the two closely related central Plains people, the Northern and Southern Cheyenne and Northern and Southern Arapaho. A comprehensive understanding of the Plains architecture requires an examination of how it relates to other forms of cultural expression that also show vision-inspired imagery such as shields and ceremonial clothing.

Honoring a man who has devoted his life to theatre and education, the Robert Hartung Endowment funds a professorship in dramatic writing and underwrites several playwriting activities at UNM.

Dr. Bob came to UNM in 1972, after 30 years working at the top of his profession in New York--10 on the stage and 20 in television. He was executive producer, producer, associate producer, or television adapter of more than 50 Hallmark Hall of Fame productions.

Though interest from the Hartung Endowment is already benefiting aspiring playwrights at UNM, additional contributions are welcomed. To make a contribution to the Hartung Endowed Playwriting Program, contact Sara McClure at the UNM College of Fine Arts, Albuquerque, NM 87131 or (505) 277-7320.

Scholarships provided by Abe Franck support the string quartet that bears his name. Auditions held in the spring yield members of the "best and most compatible quartet," says Music Professor Nancy Uscher, who coaches the group.

"Abe Franck is an intelligent, musical person who has a vision and is generous enough to contribute to realize that vision," says Uscher. "He knows the string program is challenged for resources and he has greatly bolstered it by supporting the string quartet and providing instruments. He is a serious violinist and a fine individual. We are grateful for his help."

Jessica Catron notes the quartet's special opportunities, such as a coaching session with the Turtle Island String Quartet, and with musicians from Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Plainly stated by member James Harvey, "The string quartet repertoire is the best ever written."