Donors hope to establish legacy, enrich student life

By Katherine Hsu     8/20/09 7:00pm

Burton ('56) and Deedee ('56) McMurtry

Burt and Deedee McMurtry, both alumni from the Rice University class of 1956, have contributed numerous gifts to their alma mater for a variety of purposes, but the couple has been saving a Rice fund for "something big and important.""Rice President David Leebron's proposition of expanding the student body with a new residential college appealed greatly to us, and it also fit with our desire to fund something important and unique," Burt said.

The McMurtrys' willingness to donate $32 million to Rice is largely due to their experiences at the university. Deedee, who lived less than 10 blocks from Rice for most of her childhood, attended Lamar High School before entering Rice in September 1952. In addition to being Rondelet queen, Deedee worked for several years in the Fondren Library. She graduated from the university in 1956 with a B.A. in English.

---

---

Burt, a Houston native, also attended Lamar High School, where he met Deedee. At Rice, he was treasurer and then president of the Student Association, and later served on the Trustee-Faculty-Student committee from 1955-'57, which created the residential college system "that students love and so many universities strive to attain today" in 1957.

Burt received his B.A. in 1956 and B.S. in 1957, both in electrical engineering, among other prestigious honors including the Rice Institute Service Award (twice) and the Gold Medal of the Association of Rice Alumni. He was also named a Distinguished Engineering Alumnus and Distinguished Alumnus.

The couple married a week after Deedee's graduation and moved to Mountain View, Calif., in July 1957 after a short stint in Houston for Burt's fifth year at the university. While attending graduate school at Stanford University on the Honors Cooperative Program to receive his M.S. in 1959 and his Ph.D. in 1962, both in electrical engineering, Burt worked for telecommunications company GTE, joined Jack Melchor in a venture capital business and served on the Rice Board of Trustees from 1987 to mid-2004. Meanwhile, Deedee actively volunteers in her community, acts as a trustee of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and is heavily involved with Stanford's arts advisory committee. Both said their lives after Rice have been forever influenced by the university.

"Rice has been an important part of our lives," Burt said. "Both my wife and I lived at home during our time at Rice, so it will be fun to see how the new college and students evolve."

Charles ('47) and Anne Duncan

Charles Duncan, who graduated from Rice in 1947, never got to experience the college system. But with a generous, $30 million gift to construct Rice's 11th and newest residential college, the Duncans have made sure the college system will continue to grow.

"The residential college system is similar to other universities' fraternities and sororities, but better," Duncan said. "The colleges give students a home and allow them to enjoy the academic, social and athletic aspects of the university equally."

In speaking about his hopes for his namesake college, Duncan said that Rice is one of the nation's leaders in the college system, as other universities continuously look to Rice for inspiration when looking at creating a residential college system or improving student life on their own campus.

Duncan said he hopes the college that bears his name's predicted gold-level certification in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design will motivate the nation's colleges and universities to go green and support environmental sustainability. Duncan's interest in the environment began when he moved to Washington, D.C. in the late 1970s to serve the nation under President Jimmy Carter. In 1979, Carter appointed him the Secretary of Energy, a job that required intense negotiations with OPEC.

"While I held the Secretary of Energy post, I found that America was incredibly dependent on foreign countries for essential materials such as oil," Duncan said. "My experiences in Washington prompted my desire to promote conservation, a view that I took back with me to my hometown of Houston."

When Duncan returned to Houston, he served multiple times as a trustee and later as a chairman on Rice's Board of Governors and joined the Greater Houston Partnership, where he headed the Business Coalition for Clean Air.

To this day, both Charles and Anne take an active interest in Rice, its students and the environment, values which are reflected in the college. Although the freshman class of 2013 at Duncan College has not yet decided upon any lasting traditions or characteristics, Charles has high expectations for them.

"I truly hope that Duncan and its talented students contribute as much to Rice as the other colleges continuously do," he said.

---