MIP Newsletter, CVMBS, Colorado State University

Marcia Boggs has been my MIP department contact person upon since applying to the graduate program last year. She has always been very open, informative, friendly and helpful. I have enjoyed talking with her, sharing stories and even having lunch with her. She will remain one of my favorite people here at CSU. I'm grateful I got to know her and she will be greatly missed.
~Theresa Kurisu

I knew Marcia really well, we used to hang out and talk Russian lit. I am Russian, and she was the only person in the US I knew who read and really liked one of our best loved books in Russia: Mikhail Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita". It's an extremely complex work that is not too well known here, it's also a book I absolutely love. We used to hang out and discuss the various detail and interpretations and hidden meanings in that work. I am really going to miss her, she was a great lady with a wonderful taste in literature!
~Marta Lishnevsky

Marcia,
Thank you for being such a good friend. Thank you for listening and understanding. Thank you for talking me out of quitting. Thank you for encouraging me to go for the PhD. Thank you for bending over backwards for all of us. Being a grad student was better because of you, and we'll miss you.
~Lorene R. Martinez

Marcia always had a few minutes to listen to me fret about my thesis, my course discrepancies, or the unreported grades for my courses. We would sit down at the little table in her office and talk, and I would comment to myself about how colorful everything was in there. It made me think that I should add more stickers or something around my own desk and workspace. Marcia always asked me how my job search was going. When I told her that I was going to move back to the east coast when my residency and MS degree were complete, she told me not to go and that I would be missed. Marcia made me feel special and appreciated during some of the more stressful times I had in MIP; I appreciate her for her kindness.
thanks
tina
cristina m. weiner, vmd

I am truly saddened by the passing of Marcia. Even though we only met about a year ago, she made my first year as a graduate student that much easier. She was such a caring person, and would always have a smile, a warm hello, and genuine concern for you when you saw her. It was apparent every day that she cared so much about the graduate students, and the department will not be the same without her. I will miss her, and would like to thank her for all the help she gave.
~Claire Birkenheuer

When I first stepped in CSU, she was the first person I met, I had been talking to her by email since months ago and even talked to her over the phone to ask questions about the program and registration procedures. Im a foreigner and althought I passed the TOEFL with an excellent score I had a LOT of troubles with the language the firsts months I lived in this country, when my parents came to see the school and the town, my mom was feeling very sentimental because I never had lived so far away from home, Marcia hold her hand and told her, "I will take care of her as she was my own daughter". And she did. I was sitting on her office almost every week of my first semester, asking about everything, living off campus, getting a drivers license, how was I feeling about being away from home and without knowing anyone around, she was so kind to me all times, she always had time to explain to me anything I would want to ask her, even if it was about the snow (that was new to me too). I went to her office and told her when my boyfriend after a very long relationship broke up with me because I was in a foreigner country, she said it was for the best, she was totally right. I will always remember her laughing, smiling, talking about her grandchildren, and helping everyone at all moments. She is a friend and she will always be in a very special place in my heart, the place that corresponds to a second mom. Thank you Marcia for being an angel to me, God bless you.
~Natalia Voge

Marsha-- you made it easy transitioning here as a new student. Your heartfelt smiles and comforting presence will be missed by all.
~Stephanie Moon

Thank you, Marcia, for your willingness to always help students no matter how busy you were at the time. I will never forget your genuine care for others, enthusiasm, smile, and sense of humor. You truly lit up our department and we will miss you!
Love, Katie Propst

Marcia’s kindness and encouragement were invaluable to me even before I was a graduate student. She was the first person I met when I began the application process, and I continued to rely on her gentle guidance after I became a student. I will miss her warmth, patience and steady good humor.
~Christine Graham

Marcia was always so happy and welcoming when I stopped by, and would set aside whatever she was doing to chat with me. I know she genuinely cared how I was doing, and I always left her office feeling happy and hopeful. She helped me and many other students get though the struggles of a graduate degree and will be greatly missed. Thank you Marcia!
~Jackie Scott

I think this story is a nice example of how Marcia touched all of our lives. We were all heading out to one of the FACs at Coopersmiths during new student recruiting. Marcia was really pooped and she had told me she was not sure if she was going to be able to come. I told her we would all love to see her and maybe she could just stay a little while and then head home. Not surprisingly, that did not happen. So, quite awhile later she made her way over to our group to say goodbye. She chatted for a bit and then moved off. Some time later, someone in the group said "Speaking of popular, look, Marcia is still here and she has been trying to leave for an hour". We watched as she moved away from that group only to be waved over by the next table. It was practically last call by the time she had been able to say hello to all of the people there that loved her. I think I would give anything to be able to tell her that one last time. That I love her. That we all do.
~Katrina Quinn

Marcia was my first contact when I arrived at CSU and she made me feel right at home. I remember the way she worked the crowd at the MIP fall gathering my first semester with that big smile on her face...just her presence made everyone (new students like myself included) at ease. She has always been willing to listen, talk, and help me through whatever happened to be slowing me down. We shared the common bond of loving life in the mountains and she was always asking me how things were going up Rist Canyon. We will miss you greatly Marcia...
~Justin Lee

I am certain that the vast majority of graduate students who came in contact with Marcia during their years in the MIP grad program feel the same way about her: Marcia was like a mom to us all, and we truly loved her and appreciated the significant time and sincere caring she invested in each of us. I remember one time after a seeming crisis, I wound up in Marcia’s office, talking things out. As always, talking with Marcia made me feel like things would be OK, and I recounted this to my mom on the phone later that night. Well, the next day I received an email from my mom with the subject: "God Bless Marcia." She really meant that. I think that many of our families were heartened to know that we had an advocate and a friend in Marcia, and I know that they will be eternally grateful. Over the years, I was fortunate to forge a relationship with Marcia that extended beyond graduate school, as many of us were. That’s just the kind of person Marcia was, the kind of person that people want to have her in their lives. She came to know my parents, and they too mourn the loss of her as a friend. My husband, John, and I loved spending time with Marcia, whether over lunch or at her house planting tomatoes in the garden. She was a dear friend to us both. In the last months, we have cherished the opportunity to talk with her about the impending arrival of our first child. Our daughter is due any day now, and we are having a difficult time accepting that we will not have the chance to introduce her to Marcia. That said, as we enter parenthood, we both consciously strive to be even close to as good a parent as Marcia was to her own children, and to all of us students.
~Mary Sanders Poor

Marcia had an amazing smile, one that I will never forget. No matter how bad a day it was she would make me smile too and she was always there if you needed a friend to talk to. She would come visit us in the TA office, during our first year, just to see how teaching, classes and our rotations were going. I don't know how many times she asked me "Have you decided on a lab yet?" with such excitement. She loved hearing what everyone was doing, and she really cared for everyone of us. I will miss her dearly.
~Nicole Podnecky

‘It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young. ’

John Belisle, "Evaluation of GSK2145083 - Pharmacokinetics and Efficacy against Y. pestis in Mice", GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Brian Foy, "New Tent Trap for Vector Surveillance ", IST-Infoscitex Corporation

Michio Kurosu, "Targeting MraY: Synthesis and Validation of MraY Inhibitors", NIH-NIAID

Mark Zabel, "Development of a Cell Culture-Based In Vitro Prion Amplification Assay as a Diagnostic Tool for CWD", Intl Foundation for Ethical Research, Inc.

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