The Sum of Empowerment

The late Maggie Hutchinson, professor of math at UST in the 70s through part of the 90s, became a teacher to have a positive, inspiring impact on her students.

As a brilliant student, Dr. Hutchinson was admitted to Southern Methodist University at 16 and graduated in three years. She returned to SMU for her master’s and became the first Ph.D. in mathematics to graduate from Texas Christian University.

When Dr. Hutchinson got her doctorate, she received a letter from NASA inviting her to apply to the space program. Instead she told her family, “I just want to teach.”

UST Accounting Adjunct Professor, Dr. Marina Grau ’88, MBA ’91, remembers Dr. Hutchinson well. “She was my statistics instructor, both undergraduate and graduate levels. The best ever! She was an excellent instructor who always went the extra mile for students,” Grau said.

Now, her legacy lives on through the generosity of her brother and sister-in-law Tim and Ann Reames, as well as her daughter, Eve Nordyke, and grandchildren, Dr. Eve R. Rogers and Scott Kalenbaugh. Their charitable gifts of stock — both worth $100,000, for a total of $200,000 — establish two new endowed scholarship funds. Tim Reames decided to honor his sister’s legacy by providing scholarships open to all students, while Nordyke and her children set up a special endowed fund to support women pursuing STEM-related degrees at UST.

“We celebrate my sister’s life with this scholarship and recognize the great contribution she made at UST,” Reames said. “She related to all students, not just those taking math classes. She also taught statistics in the Cameron School of Business.

“We grew up Catholic and were first-generation college students, so helping students attend a four-year, private, Catholic university for a wonderful education is fitting,” Reames said. “Maggie loved teaching at UST. We want her legacy and love of learning to live on.”

Reames’ son, Tim ’83, also attended UST, as did Hutchinson’s granddaughter Dr. Eve R. Rogers ’92.

“Because of my mother’s success in a traditionally male-dominated field, neither my daughter nor I ever felt like our gender was a barrier to pursuing our careers in similarly male-dominated fields,” Nordyke said. For this reason my family wants to help women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics to reach their goals.”  

To contribute to The Margaret “Maggie” Hutchinson Endowed Scholarship,

Visit: stthom.edu/giving