Mike Dexter: His time to provide what is needed most right now
His story
UNM runs deep in Mike Dexter’s family, so it is not surprising that he has a natural affinity for supporting his alma mater.
“We have over a dozen UNM degrees among myself and my siblings,” he said.
He himself earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from UNM in 1975 and 1977, respectively, and his MBA from UNM’s Anderson School in 2011.
He is retired from Bridgers & Paxton in Albuquerque, where he held a variety of positions since 1996, including president. He was instrumental in the firm’s growth and remains connected with the company as a consultant. Although he sought other opportunities both at L.W. Bickle & Associates of Albuquerque from 1977-79, then in New York City to work at Syska Hennessy from 1979 to 1996, his first connection to where he would come back to was made when he was a student at the School of Engineering.
“It was the co-op program at the School of Engineering that first connected me with Bridgers & Paxton, which helped pay for my education” he said.
He has supported a variety of School of Engineering initiatives, including serving as a member of the Regional Leadership Committee to raise money for the UNM Centennial Engineering Building, the Formula SAE program, and serving as a member of the UNM Mechanical Engineering Advisory Council, and the School of Engineering Alumni Leadership Board. In 2015, he was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of the School of Engineering.
Dexter said he has many fond memories of his time at UNM, both social and academic. Those range from how he and some of his mechanical engineering classmates once arranged to have an annoying television commentator hit with a pie in the face live on air, to what he calls “fun projects” in classes that had him doing everything from studying thermodynamics to real-life experiments in wind tunnels. It was with hands-on classes like that with professors like Dr. Lebeck that Dexter said he learned the most, and from which he has benefitted ever since.
“Engineering is fun and rewarding,” Dexter said. “If you aspire to do challenging work that will improve the quality of life for your community and your loved ones, engineering is a great choice.”
How he is giving back
Dexter is supporting both the School of Engineering and his home department of mechanical engineering through gifts to the Mechanical Engineering Chair Fund and the School of Engineering Academic Excellence Fund. Both funds provide support for the areas that are most in need, at the discretion of the dean or the department chair.
He said of all of the ways he could have chosen to give back, he liked the idea of providing flexibility as well as funding that can be put to immediate use.
“I wanted to give money to spend now as opposed to a planned gift.”
Dexter is especially passionate about team projects, like those he was involved with as a student, as well as focusing on interdisciplinary work and entrepreneurship. Over the years he has supported projects like Formula SAE because he feels they prepare students well for what a career in engineering is like.
“Relevance is important to our youth as they contemplate their career choices. They want to make a difference in this world, and engineering offers both technical and leadership opportunities to do so,” he said.
Dexter said that his UNM education prepared him well for an exciting and challenging career, and he wants to help students today get the most out of their engineering education.
“I got so much out of this school, and my family has gotten so much out of UNM,” he said. “The School of Engineering set me up well to succeed. Even when I was working in a large, national firm in New York City, nobody there was better prepared to practice engineering than I was. UNM seems very humble, but it makes a great difference in so many lives.”
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