College plans to grant awards each spring at all campuses
An honorary associate degree from Colorado Mountain College will mean just as much – if not more – to a Carbondale philanthropist than his two four-year degrees.
That’s how Jim Calaway views the honorary degrees he and Alpine Bank founder and CEO J. Robert Young received on Friday, Sept. 25. Jessica Hobby Catto of Woody Creek, who passed away Sept. 30, received an honorary degree from CMC earlier, as well.
“I’m 78 years old and I’ve had a lot of nice honors in my life,” Calaway said. “But this is one I’ll cherish just as much as my two degrees from the University of Texas.”
Calaway has donated to the CMC Foundation for more than a dozen years, he said. “And it’s been a wonderful relationship. It started when we (Calaway and his wife, Connie) first moved here and met the CMC leadership. And I’ve always had an intense interest in education.”
Young said Alpine Bank and Colorado Mountain College have been partners “almost since day one for both of us.”
“We started in the early 1970s and CMC began in 1967,” he recalled. “Every time we looked at where we wanted to open a bank, we asked if CMC had a campus there. It’s been a win-win situation.”
Catto enjoyed a distinguished career that stretched well beyond the Roaring Fork Valley. Before her recent passing she was on the board of World Resources Institute, and previously had been a member of the boards of the National Parks Conservation Association, The Conservation Fund and Environmental Defense Fund, and was the former publisher of Washington Journalism Review.
Even against such a storied career, several weeks ago Catto called her honorary Colorado Mountain College degree “wonderful, I’m very proud. As Tiny Tim used to say, I’m puffed up about it.”
She and her husband, former U.S. ambassador Henry Catto, donated $1.5 million to the CMC Foundation in 1998 to help start the Catto Center of Excellence in Leadership, which eventually merged with the Vail Valley Leadership Center, and scholarship endowments at each of Colorado Mountain College’s seven physical campuses.
Jessica Catto recently said community colleges like CMC help local communities a great deal. “They provide such a gift for people without the time and money to go to (a four-year college),” she said, giving those students the time to learn and eventually earn a degree. “I’m prouder than I can say to be part of this program.”
Honorees support community education through scholarships, buildings
Calaway, whose name is on an academic building at the Spring Valley Center near Glenwood Springs, said he’s proud to have supported the college over the years. His generosity is also seen in the scholarships that last year alone helped 17 students attend CMC, and the Calaway Honors concert series that acknowledges others who have supported Colorado Mountain College. Over the years he has given and helped the college raise millions of dollars.
“It’s just been a great relationship for both of us,” Calaway said. “I tell everyone I call CMC part of my family.”
Young said he especially appreciates the scholarships Alpine Bank awards Latino students who attend Colorado Mountain College. Some completed their college education and returned to work in and contribute to their communities, he added. “CMC has been a real pillar of educational excellence in every community we serve.”
Young and Calaway received their honorary degrees in Breckenridge, as part of activities to commemorate Colorado Mountain College President Dr. Stan Jensen’s inauguration and the unveiling of his new vision, mission and strategic plan for the college.
Jensen said he proposed introducing honorary degrees for the college after receiving his own such degree from Owens State Community College in Toledo, Ohio.
“It’s a way to honor people who are great partners with the college,” Jensen said. “It’s to give some recognition of significant or outstanding contributions in leadership and philanthropy. Without the support of these three initial recipients of our honorary scholarship, I can’t imagine we would be the college we are today.”
For future years, a selection committee will develop criteria and choose one or more honorees for each campus. They will receive honorary degrees at spring graduation ceremonies, Jensen said.
Note: Here is a link to the Aspen Times obituary of Jessica Hobby Catto: http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20091005/OBITUARIES/910059981/1037/NONE&parentprofile=1063
Here is a link to the Aspen Daily News obituary of Jessica Hobby Catto:
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/136854