GREELEY - A University of Northern Colorado alumna will gift $1.5 million to the university's College of Natural and Health Sciences to create a distinguished professorship and memorial scholarship and support student research.

Mary Jo Drew, chief medical officer of blood services at the American Red Cross chapter in Portland, Ore., received her bachelor's degree in biological sciences in 1979 from UNC, and has practiced medicine in Tampa, Fla.; Little Rock, Ark.; and Detroit as well as Portland. The Dr. Mary Jo Drew Biological Sciences Professorship will be established with $750,000 to attract and retain faculty. About $525,000 will be used to start the William J. deAtherage Memorial Scholarship. The remaining amount will go to the Student Research Fund in the College of Natural and Health Sciences.

"Each area of the country and mode of practice has broadened my perspective and underscored the vital role UNC played in getting me where I am today in my life and career," Drew said in a prepared statement. "I will always be grateful for the mentoring and friendships first nurtured at UNC and have a strong desire to continue this legacy by supporting upcoming generations of students in achieving their life goals through the best in higher education."

UNC is in the early stages of a major fundraising campaign. The College of Natural and Health Sciences' goal is $7 million.