肯·费根（1961） 

Esteemed and beloved alumnus, 肯 Fagan, found his way to 威尼斯人app下载 rather circuitously. 肯 is a New Jersey native and left his hometown of Orange to join the Air Force during 朝鲜战争. After four years overseas he found himself at Lowry Air Force Base 科罗拉多州丹佛市. This is where he met Margaret (affectionately known as “Marge”), his 60多年的妻子. The two married in 1955 and lived all over the world. After stops in England and Japan, 肯 was 驻扎 in Shreveport, LA, and began taking night classes at the local junior college. He wanted to get back into the routine of school before transferring to a larger institution. 什里夫波特之后，肯和玛姬 moved back to her home state of Colorado where 肯 earned his Associate’s Degree in Engineering from Colorado Mesa University (then, Mesa State College) in 1959. 在 the summer semesters, he took classes in Surveying, and Intro to Mining and Mine Design at Colorado School of Mines with the hopes of becoming a mining engineer.

After HS graduation he joined the Air Force. 在 4 year enlistment he was temporarily 驻扎. 1955年结婚. 在一起66年. Moved to Shreveport and was permanently 驻扎在这里. Took night classes at Centenary College (now C. U.)

About halfway through his time at Mesa, however, 肯 decided he preferred the field 石油工程. “I went to visit an oil field out in northeast Colorado and I really liked the work they were doing. I also visited several oil companies and decided I would rather work in petroleum.” 肯 and Marge eventually traveled to 在索科罗，肯会见了博士. William Hume, Director of NMT, and Art Stanton, Registrar 人事经理. 

After the meeting, they introduced him to Langdon Taylor, Head of PE department. 

They agreed to admit him into the program. They even found Marge a job in the university library and also got the young couple set up in the on-campus Veterans housing.

肯 enjoyed his time at Tech, stating that he got along well with his professors and seven other classmates, received a great education, and had some wonderful experiences. 在 his time at Tech, 肯 worked for John M. Kelly over the summers in Hobbs, NM as a relief pumper in the oil fields. 在 his semesters 肯 worked part-time shifts at the perlite mine south of Socorro. 

每个人似乎都相处得很好. We liked that the classes were small and had plenty of time to talk to professors in and out of class.

After graduating with his Bachelor of Science Degree in Petroleum Engineering in 1961, 肯 got a job with Kerr-McGee Oil Company drilling offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. He, Marge, and their infant daughter stayed in Louisiana for a year before moving to Kansas where 肯 worked as a reservoir engineer for Sinclair Oil. 

肯 and his family eventually found their way back to New Mexico where 肯 worked 为国家做燃气工程师. From there, he worked for Charter Oil Company as a Vice President of Foreign and Domestic Operations, a position that took him to both South and Central America frequently. 肯’s impressive career also includes serving as 高级 Vice President of Convest Energy Corporation in Houston, TX. 高级 Vice President of Forcenergy Gas Exploration in Miami, FL, and Senior Vice President (W)&T离岸公司. 

肯 retired about 10 years ago, and he spent much of his time traveling with Marge to places like Ireland, Scotland, Venezuela, Peru, Curaçao, The Virgin Islands, and Canada. He currently lives in Houston and enjoys walking, birdwatching, and being outdoors. 

His contributions to 威尼斯人app下载 have been great. 他被任命为慈善家 of the Year in 2019 for being such a generous supporter of the school’s Petroleum 工程项目. 肯 and Marge established the Fagan Scholarship to enhance a student's financial award package. 肯 also established The Marge Women’s Fund in honor and memory of Marge, who passed away in October 2021. 当被问及为什么他和 Marge chose to establish these scholarships and give back to Tech in such a profound way, he said, “Nobody in the world treated us better than the people at Tech when 我们刚到. There were so many people who came out of Tech before me that we 可以依靠. We didn’t have much when we arrived in Socorro, and my education got 我想去的地方.”

肯 was awarded the President’s Medal in April, an honor conferred to individuals who have profoundly enhanced the university by significantly supporting the university through donations or gifts, appreciably advancing STEM in higher education, enhancing the professional growth of the sciences and engineering in the service of humankind, and significantly enhancing the reputation of 威尼斯人app下载 nationally or globally.

肯 is a proud Techie and is committed to helping keep NMT a great STEM school for all, we are honored to call him one of our alumni.