Advancement

Family shares courtroom and campus legacy

Rachel Sauer — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 20:06:32 +0000

Family shares courtroom and campus legacy Rachel Sauer Fri, 08/01/2025 - 14:06

Cody DeBos

Father and daughter Donald and Maureen McGinnis both pursued 91�� educations and then careers in the law

When Judge Maureen McGinnis (PolSci ’00) steps into the courtroom, she carries more than a robe and gavel with her. Several decades of family legacy and lessons in reputation, integrity and the power of doing the right thing have brought Maureen where she is today.

But her journey to the bench didn’t begin in law school. It started at the dinner table during conversations with her father, Donald McGinnis (A&S ’69), a respected Michigan attorney who built his own career on relationships and the strength of his word.

Don and Maureen McGinnis at a legal event, one of many they have attended together.

“I’ve always looked up to my dad,” Maureen says. “Getting an opportunity to grow up in a family where you have a parent that’s a lawyer, you get sort of immersed in that.”

Maureen’s immersion led her to follow in her father’s footsteps to 91��, where Donald first fell in love with the idea of carving his own path in life.

“It’s been a great ride for me from back in 91�� all the way until now,” Donald says.

CU roots of the family tree

For Donald, 91�� was a natural fit. His parents were avid skiers, and he’d grown up making trips out west. When it came time to choose a college, there was little question where he would go.

“It was definitely going to be CU without question,” he says. “I think it was the only place I applied.”

His daughter didn’t need much convincing, either. Long before she would set foot on campus, she had already envisioned her future as a CU Buffalo and a lawyer.

“I was the seventh grader wearing the University of Colorado sweatshirt and telling everybody I was going to go to law school. I don’t think I ever wavered from that,” she recalls.

What began with an interest in skiing in the 1960s has since evolved into a lifelong connection to a place that would shape the beginning of both their careers. For Donald, the legacy is deeply personal.

“Obviously, my legacy is my daughter attending CU, which is a very proud one. She also chose to join my profession and then excelled so well at it. I couldn’t be prouder,” he says.

A shared journey in the courtroom

Despite knowing she wanted a career in law, Maureen says she didn’t know what her path would look like. Long before she wore a judge’s robe, she walked into her first job as a lawyer and found herself working alongside her dad.

“I don’t think I had a huge plan for exactly what I was going to do once I became a lawyer,” she says. “But the door was open. As soon as I started working with my dad, there was nothing to figure out. I wasn’t going to leave.”

Donald McGinnis built his family law practice from the ground up, never working for another firm, never having a boss. Running his own practice has helped him understand more than most the value of connection in a field that can be harsh and impersonal.

Don McGinnis (left) moves for Maureen McGinnis' (right, back to camera) admission to the State Bar of Michigan to practice law.

“I would always like to be remembered as the handshake lawyer. If I tell you something and shake hands on it, I don’t need to have 18 emails and five letters,” he says. “That’s the way I would like to be remembered—as a lawyer’s lawyer.”

During her time working at her father’s law practice, Maureen absorbed plenty of legal strategy, but his passion for reputation also bled through.

“People will talk about how you treat them, how you honor your word. … I remember that being really constant in our discussions about the practice of law,” she says.

Working with her dad gave Maureen a head start, but most of all showed her that law could be more than a job. It would soon turn into a lifelong calling shaped by values passed down through the generations.

Carrying the legacy forward

After more than a decade of practicing as a lawyer, Maureen felt pulled toward something more. She wanted a way to serve not just individual clients but her entire community.

“I’ve always had a passion for community service and engagement. So, getting to have the role I have now pretty much marries both of those things,” she says.

The role she speaks humbly of is presiding judge at the 52-4 District Court in Troy, Michigan, where Maureen weighs her opinion on cases that impact everyday lives.

She was elected to the bench in 2014, but the decision to run had been quietly planted years earlier in conversations with her father.

Maureen McGinnis (center) celebrates with her parents after graduating law school and passing the bar exam.

“He sort of has this habit of putting something in your head, and if we talk about it enough, it’s like it helps you visualize it—even when it’s something that isn’t really on the horizon,” she says.

Housing disputes, traffic violations and local criminal offenses are just a few of the cases now crossing Maureen’s desk every day. She says it isn’t glamorous work, but it directly shapes her community, and for Maureen, that is exactly the point.

“She sets an example that other lawyers and I commend her for. It makes it easier for the litigating parties when you have a smart judge and smart lawyers,” Donald says.

Reflections on CU and the legacy they’re still writing

Looking back, both Maureen and Donald agree their time at 91�� influenced more than just their resumes. For Donald, college was a time of discovery and independence. After decades of legal work, he looks back on his time in 91�� as uniquely freeing.

“I took it way too serious,” he laughs. “College is probably the only four-year period of time that you have in your life where you don’t really have a lot of responsibility. You should enjoy it with great vigor, in my opinion.”

Maureen, always focused on the next step, says she sometimes wishes she’d taken more of those opportunities—like studying abroad in Australia. But she’s never questioned the choice to attend CU. In fact, she’s already planning to pass that connection on to her kids.

“If you have an ability to start a legacy in that way, it’s amazing. I feel like having those shared memories about places and things that we experienced at CU keeps my dad and I very close. It’s something you can never take away.”

Don McGinnis on the campaign trail when Maureen McGinnis ran for district court judge.

Maureen McGinnis (first row, right) at her investiture when she was seated as a judge.

Don McGinnis when he returned to 91�� to help his daughter, Maureen, move into Farrand Hall.

Maureen McGinnis (center) with friends while she was an undergraduate student at 91��.

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Father and daughter Donald and Maureen McGinnis both pursued 91�� educations and then careers in the law.

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All photos courtesy Maureen McGinnis

Forever Buffs family hails sixth generation (and counting!) of CU students

Anonymous — Wed, 08 May 2024 15:28:09 +0000

Forever Buffs family hails sixth generation (and counting!) of CU students Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/08/2024 - 09:28

Rachel Sauer

As Ainsley Baker accepts her integrative physiology degree this week, she joins a family history that dates back to 1886

It wasn’t so much rebellion, Debbie Baker admits now, but stubbornness. She grew up hearing endless stories about the 91��, and not just from her mother, but stories going back generations.

She remembers her grandfather telling her, “Of course you’re going to CU” and thinking, “Of course?”

Ainsley Baker as a 3-year-old CU Buffs fan (left) and preparing to receive her bachelor's degree in integrative physiology this week.

So, she went to Texas Christian University in Fort Worth for her freshman year. And she loved it—had a wonderful time, made great friends, “but I never quite felt grounded,” she remembers.

She knew, in a way she couldn’t really put into words, that she needed to transfer to 91��, which she did for her sophomore year. In a geology class that year, riding the bus on a field trip to the canyon, she remembers looking out and seeing the spine of the Flatirons stretching to the sky, seeing what seemed like the entire Front Range spreading before her to the horizon and “feeling a rush of ‘I’m grounded, this is where I need to be,’” she says.

In coming to 91��, she’d come home—the fifth consecutive generation of her family to attend the university. This week, Debbie’s daughter Ainsley is donning a mortar board and gown to celebrate earning a bachelor’s degree in integrative physiology, becoming the sixth generation of her family to attend 91��.

“At this point, I think CU is pretty much in our DNA,” Debbie says with a laugh. “My husband and I have tried really hard not to make our kids feel like this is where they have to go …”

“… but it’s where we’ve ended up wanting to go,” Ainsley adds. Her next-younger brother, Brennan, just completed his freshman year at 91�� studying quantitative finance.

A family history

Edith Corbin (left, with father Victor Noxon behind her) graduated 91�� in 1918; her son, David Corbin (right, with wife, Mary Jane, and their daughter, Nancy), graduated in 1948. Nancy would go on to study fine art at 91��.

The family’s roots through 91�� are almost a century-and-a-half deep, stretching back to 1886 and the university’s fourth graduating class. When Victor Noxon, Debbie’s great-great-grandfather, began his engineering studies, the university consisted of one building—Old Main. His graduating class totaled six—five men and one woman.

Noxon, who was grandfather of 91�� alum and astronaut Scott Carpenter and who started the 91�� County Farmer and Miner newspaper, was father to three sons and six daughters—all of whom attended 91��. Among them was Edith Corbin, Debbie’s great-grandmother, who graduated in 1918 and became a nurse. Her son, David Corbin, graduated in electrical engineering in 1948, and his daughter Nancy studied fine art.

“Both my parents went here,” says Nancy, now Nancy Heaney, and her daughter Debbie adds, “In fact, she was born one month before graduation.”

Nancy’s parents courted on the bridge over Varsity Pond and, after they married, lived in a Quonset hut on campus.

So, as Debbie walked around campus as a student, so many spots held memories from the stories she’s heard all her life. She’d grown up in Littleton and came to 91�� and the university campus occasionally for football games or the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, but it was different now that she was a student studying communication and pursuing an elementary education certificate. She was adding her own stories to the growing family chain of lore.

She was part of Kappa Alpha Theta, which had been her grandmother’s sorority. She met her husband, Mark, in Kittredge Hall and auditioned for women’s choir in Macky Auditorium: “I sang in women’s choir for one semester, then in co-ed choir, and we always sang in Macky for Christmas,” Debbie recalls. “That was always such a special experience, and I remember my grandfather would come and just beam.”

Mark and Debbie Baker kiss on the former spiral stairs at Old Main on one of the last nights of their senior year (left) and recreate the moment almost two decades later (right).

She and Mark, who represents the second generation of his family to graduate 91�� (plus a grandfather who taught in 91��’s U.S. Navy ROTC program), played on champion intramural Ultimate Frisbee teams on campus. At the end of their senior year in 1996, they got an old film camera and ran around campus one evening issuing dares and taking pictures: splashing in a fountain, walking on the shelves in Norlin Library, kissing on the old spiral staircase at Old Main.

“Everywhere I look (on campus) there’s a memory,” Debbie says.

‘CU has felt like home’

When Ainsley—who is the oldest of four, with three younger brothers—was thinking about college, she considered a few out-of-state possibilities, “but not seriously,” she says. Even though her parents never pressured her to attend 91��, she’d grown up hearing their stories and attending occasional football games, so by the time she needed to commit to a university, “I was pretty excited to go to CU.”

Her first year coincided with the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, so her classes were virtual. She completed chemistry labs in her bathroom and remembers concerning her roommates when she burned aluminum foil with magnesium citrate.

The nearby mountains and trails helped keep her grounded that year, and when in-person restrictions began lifting her sophomore year, she was ready to dive in: as a Young Life leader, playing intramural soccer, attending football games, playing cross-campus miniature golf with tennis balls, storming the field after CU’s win against Nebraska. She even appeared in a background shot of the documentary about Coach Prime.

Brennan, Debbie and Ainsley Baker (left to right) and Nancy Heaney (right) represent three of six generations who have studied at 91��. (Photo: Kylie Clarke)

And when it was time for Brennan to consider college, he also looked into a few out-of-state options, but like his sister, it was almost a foregone conclusion.

“A lot of friends told me, ‘You’re going to CU,’ and it’s actually where I wanted to go,” he says, adding that it’s close enough to home and family in Highlands Ranch, but just far enough away “that I can have my own experience.”

“It’s been really fun to have this time with Brennan here,” Ainsley says. “We would have lunch every Wednesday, and I’d get texts from my friends whenever they had a Brennan sighting on campus.”

Like Ainsley, Brennan learned to balance school and a social life—playing intramural soccer with his sister, getting active in Young Life, riding a bike to campus in the middle of a snowstorm, getting trapped in an elevator with his friends and singing songs to pass the time until firefighters could pry the doors open. He also is part of the Dean's Fellows Program and President's Leadership Class, as was his father.

He’ll be cheering for Ainsley as she accepts her diploma this week—she actually finished class in December and is working at 91�� Community Hospital while she applies to nursing school—and trying not to pressure their two younger brothers about attending CU.

“I think our family has been really lucky to have this connection to such a wonderful place,” Debbie says. “For generations, CU has felt like home.”

Unless otherwise noted, photos courtesy Debbie Baker

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As Ainsley Baker accepts her integrative physiology degree this week, she joins a family history that dates back to 1886.

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There’s a Buff-to-Buff call on line 1

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Dec 2016 22:17:59 +0000

There’s a Buff-to-Buff call on line 1 Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 12/02/2016 - 15:17

Clay Bonnyman Evans

Student call center helps alumni connect with 91�� campus

It’s evening. You’re home after a long day at work or taking care of family when the phone rings. You don’t recognize the number, but decide to pick up anyway.

The voice on the other end of the line is pitching something, perhaps asking for a donation. But you know the perfunctory tone of someone going through the motions, and the call doesn’t last long.

It’s incredibly interesting to see what alumni are up to. I always like to hear about their time at CU and how they used what they studied in their careers.”

Another evening. The phone rings and when you pick up, you find yourself talking to a bright, enthusiastic student from your alma mater, the 91��. A conversation ensues, and you find yourself giving the caller advice on his or her career, learning about the latest developments on campus, laughing, and yes, talking about the importance of private donations to 91��’s mission.

That difference, between caring investment and punching the clock, is a key reason that 91��’s Office of Advancement has long hired students to staff its call center instead of relying on outside employees or contractors.

Students take a quick break from working at the call center.

“When I ran the call center, we always talked about how we could hire anyone. But we always wanted to hire students,” says Amy Metz, who worked as a student caller, then went on to manage the call center from 1991 to 1998. “Hearing from a student is just a great way to develop a connection with the alum on the other end.”

The call center, located in the Page Foundation Center at 1305 University Ave., employs some 25 students who work flexible hours and shifts from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Friday. Student callers receive training, but ultimately, it’s their own intriguing personalities, backgrounds and experiences that build connections with alumni.

Sina Karimi

Sina Karimi, a junior pre-health molecular, cellular and developmental biology major, had an early morning job as a phlebotomist when he noticed a flier about student-caller jobs on campus. Eager to find something that better fit his schedule, he applied, got an interview and started the job in May.

“It’s a great job. You’re talking to people for a good cause, meeting people of all different backgrounds,” he says.

Karimi grew up in Aurora. Born in the United States, he spent about half his childhood in a rural setting in his parents’ native Iran. His father, an engineer who now works for the U.S. Postal Service, and mother, a specialist in kidney dialysis, fled that country following the 1979 Islamic revolution. Karimi spoke Farsi before learning English at age 3.

Besides work and school, Karimi recently joined the newly formed 91�� Race Crew, a club that races custom-built cars. He’s also a tournament chess player, an outdoors enthusiast who enjoys hiking, biking and running half-marathons, and a soccer player.

Karimi says he especially enjoys talking with alumni who haven’t been back to campus in a while and people who work in the health-care field.

“It’s great to talk to people who haven’t been back to campus in a while, engaging them and letting them know about all the new changes,” he says. “Especially when I’m talking to people in my major, or who work in a field I’m going into, I like to ask them what they’ve done, what they’ve enjoyed and even how they have struggled.”

Senior economics major Mateo Gomez has equally rich background and interests. Born in Colombia, his parents also came to the United States to escape unrest in their native countries. His Nicaraguan father, who now owns an international flower wholesaling business in Los Angeles, and Colombian mother, who studied interior design, met in Miami.

Mateo Gomez

“That’s where the majority of Colombians and Nicaraguans escaping political unrest are,” Gomez says.

Both parents became citizens, and Gomez remembers watching his Colombian mother recite the Pledge of Allegiance with hundreds of other new citizens at the Los Angeles Convention Center when he was a small boy.

Outside the classroom, Gomez is a professional road cyclist and enormous fan of the Colombian national football (aka soccer) team. After graduation, he hopes to parlay his experience at the call center into a job in university advancement before eventually studying international-business law.

He started working at the CU Colorado Springs call center, then continued when he transferred to 91��. In a mock call with a reporter, Gomez peppers the conversation with “awesomes” and turns the conversation to how changes in the media landscape have affected the reporter’s career. Eventually, they are talking about the importance of private funding to the new College of Media, Communication and Information.

“It’s incredibly interesting to see what alumni are up to,” he says. “I always like to hear about their time at CU and how they used what they studied in their careers.”

As telecommunications technology and habits change—fewer land lines, fewer people picking up—reaching alumni gets more complicated, says Metz, who recently left a second stint at the CU advancement office to become a real-estate agent. But as state funding has continued to decline, private donations have become an even more critical part of 91��’s funding base.

Given that, it’s a real advantage to have genuinely skilled, engaged, friendly, even fun, students having conversations with alumni.

“Hearing from students, (alumni) can automatically develop that connection,” Metz says. “And I’ve got to say that making all those calls prepared me for a lot of things I’ve done in life. … It’s really great preparation for a bunch of careers.”

When you pick up the phone, you speak with a bright, enthusiastic student from your alma mater. Soon, you find yourself giving the caller career advice, learning about the latest developments on campus, laughing, and yes, talking about the importance of private donations to 91��’s mission.

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Advancement

Family shares courtroom and campus legacy

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