Jan. 22, 2010
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From the University of Iowa News Service:
The University of Iowa Hawkeye men’s swimming and diving team has its first endowed athletic scholarship, thanks to a gift of $209,000 from UI alumni Terry J. and Susan Showers Mulligan of Bonita Springs, Fla. The gift, establishing the Terry and Susan Mulligan Swimming Scholarship, was made through the UI Foundation.
In 2006, the Mulligans established an endowed football scholarship at the UI, the first football scholarship to be fully endowed by a Hawkeye football letter winner during his lifetime. Gary Barta, the UI director of athletics, explained the importance to the university of the Mulligans’ endowed scholarship support.
“The Iowa Hawkeye athletics program is self-sustaining and receives no state funding,” Barta said. “We reimburse the university annually for every scholarship that the NCAA allows us to offer. The Mulligans’ endowed gifts allow us to direct annual resources to other essential needs. I can’t thank Terry and Susan enough for their thoughtful generosity.”
Terry Mulligan, a UI football letter winner, said the couple’s most recent gift grew out of respect for the swimming and diving program and optimism for its future; the UI swimming and diving teams will have a new home in the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center when it opens in 2010.
“Coach Long and Gary Barta have worked hard to rebuild Hawkeye swimming and diving, and we’re excited to help,” Mulligan said. “Our son Jim was an All-American swimmer for the UI, and I know from my own experience as a Hawkeye football player how valuable participation in Iowa athletics can be for a student-athlete. We hope other former Hawkeyes will also lend their support to UI athletics.”
Susan Mulligan earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the UI in 1967. Terry Mulligan, who retired in 1996 as group vice president of medical-supplies company Baxter International, earned a bachelor of science degree in secondary education from the UI in 1968. He is now vice chairman of MedAssets, a company providing financial services to healthcare providers worldwide. He serves on the board of directors for Wellmark Inc., which contributed $5,000 toward the Terry and Susan Mulligan Swimming Scholarship.
Terry Mulligan played defensive end for the Iowa Hawkeye football team, lettering in 1964, 1965 and 1966. He was an assistant coach for the UI freshman football team in 1967. The UI presented him with the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2001, and he served on the UI Alumni Association’s board of directors for seven years, including two as chairman. He is a member of the UI Henry B. Tippie College of Business board of visitors, and both he and Susan Mulligan are members at the Silver Level of the UI Presidents Club, which recognizes the university’s most generous contributors.