A $2 million gift to The University of Texas at El Paso will be used to support KTEP-FM and provide scholarships to dozens of undergraduate students every year. The $2 million donation comes from the estate of the late Margaret Herman. The funds will be split evenly between academic scholarships and the radio station.
“KTEP is a great service to the community,” said UTEP President Heather Wilson. “We hope to honor Margaret Herman’s legacy by continuing to tell the story of this community with a strong affiliate of NPR right here in the borderland.”
KTEP is operated by UTEP as a public service to the region. It is the NPR affiliate housed in the University’s Cotton Memorial Building. Strengthening the station is one initiative identified in the recently completed UTEP 2030 Strategic Plan, which emphasizes the importance of positively impacting the community UTEP serves.
Richard Pineda, Ph.D., chair of UTEP’s Department of Communication, said KTEP will use funds this year to install state-of-the-art recording technology and bring the studio’s soundproofing up to industry standards.
“We are grateful to have a benefactor who recognizes the significance of public radio in the Southwest and how KTEP serves an educational function for our students to train there and how it serves a community function to be able to get information, news and enterainment out to the community,” Pineda said.
