What goes around

Mary McCannel Gunkelman graduated from North Dakota State University in 1942. In the ensuing years, she came to firmly believe that a student would be more likely to reach his or her full potential in a happy environment. Her family honored this belief after her death by establishing an award in her name in 1987. Each spring, the entire campus is asked to nominate someone who makes the campus a happy place, and this past spring Jimmy Billups got the prize. Billups is a studio technician in the architecture and landscape architecture studio. He told someone after the ceremony it was the first time he knew anyone cared what he did. The students appreciate his brand of craftsmanship and dedication to their needs in the woodshop. He made an impression last year when he helped 70 second-year architecture students who'd never used a woodshop before build beautiful wooden model stands. He came early, stayed late, showed students his kindness.