Leaving a Legacy of Higher Education

Renowned cancer researcher establishes endowment for UNM Los Alamos faculty

By Michelle G. McRuiz

Richard Swenson and Vivien Chen

Vivien Chen, MPH, PhD, met her late husband, Richard Swenson, MSc, during her busy academic career. Passengers on the same flight, they ended up sitting next to each other after a computer glitch scrambled the original seat assignments. Now, almost 40 years later, Vivien has chosen to honor her husband’s memory by establishing the Richard C. Swenson and Vivien W. Chen Endowed Fund to benefit the faculty of UNM Los Alamos.

“For students to have a good education, we need dedicated, inspiring, innovative faculty and mentors,” says Vivien. “The endowment is to be considered something extra the university can provide to the faculty beyond salary, such as conferences and workshops.”

Something no one can take away

Vivien is Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) in New Orleans. She has spent more than 35 years in higher education. Before her retirement in 2015, she was a professor at both LSUHSC and Tulane Medical Center, the former Department Head of Epidemiology in the LSU School of Public Health, and the Founding Director of the statewide Louisiana Tumor Registry. Vivien has conducted significant research in cancer epidemiology; taught countless university students; published widely; served on state, national, and international boards; and won many awards for her work.

Vivien loves research and teaching. But her parents, and the hardships they endured, are her original inspiration 

“I was born into an educated, middle-class family in China,” explains Vivien. “My parents had to flee the Chinese Communist Party. They arrived in Hong Kong as refugees and lost everything they had.”

In Hong Kong, her parents struggled to raise their seven children. “I remember my parents telling us they had no more wealth or inheritance to pass to us, but they would give us something no one could take away: A solid college education,” she continues. “Education became a priority for me and my siblings.”

Vivien earned a biology degree in Hong Kong, then came to the United States for graduate school. She earned a master’s degree in public health and a doctoral degree in epidemiology at the University of Oklahoma and joined the faculty at LSUHSC and Tulane University.

An unusual trajectory

Vivien’s husband Richard had challenges in his youth, too. The son of Swedish immigrants, Richard grew up poor on a farm in North Dakota, working the land with his father and learning a few subjects in a one-room country school with a single teacher. Because his father needed him on the farm, Richard figured his education would cease after finishing eighth grade.

Then he learned about an agricultural high school in Minnesota that could satisfy his hunger for knowledge while benefiting the farm. He attended this boarding school for six months out of a year, learning blacksmithing, welding, and other farm-related subjects, but minimal academic education.

Tuition was free, but room and board weren’t. Richard earned his keep by maintaining the swimming pool at school and working as a lifeguard. At the end of each six-month stint, he returned home for another six months, incorporating his new agricultural skills on their marginal farm.

After high school, Richard farmed with his father for two years and joined the Navy on the last day of the G.I. Bill. There, he applied for SEAL Team training, was accepted, and eventually became a SEAL. After completing four years of service and numerous successful missions in the Navy, he was discharged.

Using his G.I. Bill benefits, Richard enrolled in the University of North Dakota. Despite the challenges of lacking a good educational foundation, he earned a bachelor of science in physics and math, then a master of science in physics with a scholarship from the National Academy of Science Foundation. He spent 35 years working in nuclear physics and underwater acoustics research, helping to develop submarine detection technology. Richard held more than 20 patents from his work at various naval research laboratories and received several prestigious awards.

Richard credited his professional success to his unusual trajectory as a high-school student, says Vivien. “The agricultural high school provided him an opportunity to higher education and achievements later in life.”

Richard’s second act

After his retirement, Richard began collecting and restoring John Deere tractors on their Mississippi farm, where he and Vivien lived before moving to Los Alamos. Inevitably, leftover parts began piling up. Richard wondered what to do with them, and then he began welding. He created small, whimsical metal sculptures of dogs, cats, and mice, giving them away to friends. When he started making larger sculptures, people in New Orleans and Los Alamos took notice.

New Concept Gallery in Santa Fe began representing Richard’s sculpture, helping launch his second act as a popular artist. His life-sized horses, giraffes, dragons, and other animals became best-sellers, but profit wasn’t important to Richard.

“His joy was sharing his artwork with the public,” says Vivien. “There are many of Richard’s large sculptures displayed at public places in Los Alamos and White Rock. One piece, a lobo, is on display at the UNM Los Alamos campus – he donated it to the university. Lobos symbolize the fighting spirit, and Richard hoped it would inspire students to have perseverance in pursuing their educations.” The lobo likely represented Richard’s own fighting spirit as well.

Showing appreciation

Richard, who passed away in 2023, had two passions: Science and creating metal sculpture. Vivien acknowledged his first passion by creating a memorial scholarship in his name for Los Alamos High School students through the J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee.

She created the endowment in appreciation of his second passion and chose UNM Los Alamos to benefit from it because of the school’s needs, reputation, and value to northern New Mexicans. Both she and Richard wanted to support traditional and adult learners at the university, whether they transfer to a four-year school, pursue a vocation, or something in between. Vivien and Richard viewed UNM Los Alamos as a vital part of the city’s thriving workforce.

“Richard saw a parallel between UNM Los Alamos and the high school he attended in the 1950s,” she says. “The University offers low-cost, high-quality education for students. It also provides vocational programs, including welding. UNM Los Alamos resonated with Richard, and he wanted to do something about that.”

Through her generous gift to UNM Los Alamos, Vivien helps ensure that faculty feel appreciated, receive additional learning opportunities, and help students pursue their aspirations.

“I hope to show faculty that their dedication is appreciated,” Vivien says.