The MSU-Northern Foundation had a number of unique gifts come in this fall. Larry D. Williams, '61 Northern grad, of San Marcos, California has gifted the royalty rights to an oil well near Sidney, Montana. Proceeds are to be used to enlist students to drive the "Galloping Goose" for parades and campus events. Larry's cousin, Linda Kindepp, has donated three time share condos in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Gordon LaFournaise, a '55 grad, of Helena Montana has also donated a timeshare in Reno, Nevada.

A bronze statute of Charlie Russell named "Charlie" was donated by Tom Gunderson, a '54 Northern alum, from Chandler, Arizona and Bob Gunderson, a `55 Northern alum, from Bozeman, Montana. The bronze was given in honor of their parents Carl and Mae Gunderson. Carl was a long time history professor at Northern and Mae was an elementary teacher for Havre Public Schools.

Barb (Morgan) Elliot, daughter of Arlene and Leigh Morgan, has donated a life size bronze statute entitled "The Surveyor" in their honor. Leigh Morgan was a professor in the Northern drafting program. The statute was done by well known artist and Northern Alum, Lyndon Faye Pomeroy, of Billings.

Don Johnsrud of Havre has donated the Havre Realty building across the street from the Hill County Courthouse and three vacant lots by Havre High School.

A creative writing award has been established for MSU-Northern students by Nedra Sterry of Eugene, Oregon. Nedra is a native of Hingham, Montana and the author of the memoir, "When the Meadowlark Sings." The juried yearly $500 award for fiction or creative non fiction will be sustained by an initial cash grant sufficient to fund what is to be called the "Meadowlark Award" until 2028. In addition, Sterry is assigning all future profits from sales of the book and from the audio book of the same name to the MSU-Northern Foundation. The first "Meadowlark Award" will be given in the spring of 2007. Tom Reynolds, Executive Director of the MSU-Northern Foundation called the gift "a considerable donation to the future students of MSU-Northern." Sterry, who began writing "When the Meadowlark Sings" in her early eighties, did not attend Northern, but her husband, Alton, and two sons, Rick and Craig, obtained teaching degrees from the school. Her sons, Rick and Alan, manage the family farm near Hingham.

Carolyn Kuhr Rhodes, a `41 graduate of Northern, has established a new endowment in remembrance of her husband, Cecil "Dusty" Rhodes, who was a '38 Northern alum.

MSU-Northern's College of Technical Sciences (COTS) is pleased to accept a gift of $25,000 in new training aids and diagnostic equipment from Toyota Motor Sales USA. Lawrence Booth, T-TEN area manager, visiting from California, announced the gift during the biannual meeting of the Toyota Technical Education Network (T-TEN) automotive advisory board. The advisory board is comprised of Toyota dealer service managers from across the state of Montana, and Toyota representatives from Portland, Oregon and Torrance, California. This gift will allow students to work with the latest diagnostic equipment and training aids utilized in the diagnosis and repair of the highly complicated electronic vehicles. This equipment will be utilized in the Toyota Electrical Lab housed in the new Applied Technology Center and used by all students in Northern's automotive, diesel, ag mechanics, and other technical related programs on the MSU-N campus.