Utah State University Celebrates Old Main Society

Friends, alumni, faculty, staff and students gathered in mid-October to honor the Utah State University Old Main Society event. Distinguished guests were honored during the festivities, including USU alums Dell Loy and Lynnette Hansen, who received the Spirit of Old Main Award; George and Billie Emert, who received the Emeriti Award; and Douglas and Jeannie Raymond, who received the New Generation Award.

The Old Main Society was established in 1967 to recognize those individuals who have risen to the challenge of the university’s founders and assisted USU through their gifts of private money that augments the university’s public funds.

Old Main Society members were a vital component to the success of the university’s comprehensive campaign “Honoring Tradition, Securing Our Future, The Campaign for Utah State University.” The campaign allowed the university to improve its academic programs, retain quality faculty and provide better facilities for students and researchers. The $500 million raised over the course of the campaign is not a replacement for, but works with and enhances, the university’s state-funded budget.

Utah State University thanks and honors those individuals willing to contribute their resources for the future of Utah State University.

Dell Loy and Lynnette Hansen

Spirit of Old Main

Utah State University alumni couple Dell Loy and Lynnette Hansen invests in USU students because they feel a higher education “teaches them to fish,” allowing them to be self-sufficient leaders who can contribute to the community.

Dell Loy graduated from USU in 1982 with a bachelor’s in political science. Since graduating, he went on to become president of his highly successful business, Wasatch Property Management. Established in 1988 with its company headquarters located in Logan, Utah, Wasatch Property Management employs more than 600 people. The company touts ownership and management of more than 2.4 million of rental square footage throughout the western United States.

Lynnette, a Cache Valley native, said that as a student at USU, she felt the world open with possibilities. She earned her bachelor's in business administration and graduated cum laude in 1973. She then went on to earn a master's in business education at USU and graduated in 1974.

Lynnette and Dell Loy married in 1997 and success in business has allowed the couple to be actively involved in various state and local charitable organizations, contributing more than $10 million dollars. The Hansen Charitable Support Foundation established the Hansen Scholars Program in 2000 that funds retention scholarships for an estimated 20 to 25 USU students a year who might not have otherwise been able to afford to attend the university. The couple also supports the Hansen Scholars in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business, provide for scholarships in the Caine School of the Arts and have generously given to the USU students from the Dominican Republic. 

George and Billie Emert
Emeriti Award

George Henry Emert was born on a farm at the end of a mule trail on the Tennessee side of the Smoky Mountains where his family roots had been since just after the Revolutionary War. His academic pathway began in a K-12 one-room schoolhouse and led to a bachelor’s from the University of Colorado, a master’s from Colorado State University, a doctorate in biochemistry from Virginia Tech and a postdoctoral return to the University of Colorado.

After completing undergraduate work, longstanding family tradition necessitated George joining the U.S. Army, where he served in Vietnam. While overseas he met his future wife, Billie, on a blind date in Okinawa where she was spending a summer college break with her family. A native of Wyoming and the daughter of a career Army officer, home base to Billie had always been a cabin in the Big Horn Mountains.
 

After working in industry, George then went to the University of Arkansas with staff, equipment, patents and research funding to establish a Biomass Research Center. In Arkansas the politics of finding ways to suport teaching led to involvement in academic administration and, eventually, a position as executive vice president of Auburn University.

After almost nine years at Auburn, an interview visit to Utah State University resulted in George and Billie co-experiencing “love at first sight.” In a beautiful valley not only did they find mountains all around, but nestled within was a world-class university bustling with a faculty, staff and student body of the highest caliber. When George become the thirteenth president of USU, it offered both George and Billie the opportunity to become Aggies.

Douglas A. and Jeanie J. Raymond

New Generation Award

Cache Valley natives Doug and Jeanie Raymond met in the Taggart Student Center’s Sunburst Lounge when they were both students at Utah State University. Jeanie, an exercise science major, graduated cum laude in 1993. While attending USU she was a cheerleader for three years. Jeanie briefly left USU her junior year for a cheerleading scholarship at the University of Hawaii. Doug graduated from the College of Business with a degree in finance in 1994.

Jeanie was raised in Lewiston, Utah, in a USU family. Her parents and five of her siblings are Aggies. As a founding member of Parent Connection, a group of parents with special needs children, Jeanie was instrumental in bringing Cache Kids, a pediatric rehabilitation facility to Cache Valley. For the past 14 years the Raymond’s have raised funds for this special IHC facility at the annual Fore Kids fundraising event. Jeanie stresses the importance of education to her four children and plays an important role as a volunteer at her children’s elementary school. She is also active in her church where she has served in various leadership positions.

After graduating from USU, Logan, Utah, native Doug joined his five brothers and his parents as members of USU’s Alumni Association.  In 2002, he was named president and CEO of Raymond Construction Company, a local Cache Valley general contracting company. Since becoming president and CEO, Doug has continued the company’s tradition of supporting USU Athletics through membership in the Touchdown Club and Big Blue Club, where he serves on its board of directors.
 

In 2009 Doug and Jeanie were inducted into the Old Main Society for their financial contributions to the Jon M. Huntsman College of Business and USU Athletics.

Contact: University Advancement, Development Office, 435-797-1320 or 1-888-OLD-MAIN (653-6246)