Theresa Desfosses '72

Theresa Desfosses, class of 1972, is the only female president and general manager of a manufactured housing plant in the country. Her Burlington Homes factory employs 125 people in Oxford, Maine, and has made Oxford the country's center for manufactured homes.  Desfosses loves her job. "It is a wonderful industry and manufacturing is very exciting. When you go to the end of the production line, you can say, 'Gee, we built that,'" she says.

With the encouragement of the university and her employer, Desfosses enrolled at Southern New Hampshire University in 1968 as a continuing education student at SNHU Portsmouth. She was the youngest student and the only woman in the class, and worked from 6:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. and attended classes from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. four nights a week for four years. She feels that her SNHU education gave her an understanding of business, business law and accounting, and that it has served her well. "Most people going into manufacturing, especially business, don't really realize how important accounting is. You can look at the ledger and you know what you need to look for," she says.

Now Desfosses, a member of SNHU's board of trustees, supports the university through a Mentor Scholarship that pairs supporters with students whose lack of financial resources could place an SNHU education beyond their reach. As a donor, she has the opportunity to direct her named scholarship fund to a student based on financial need and/or merit.

Join Desfosses in being a part of our success story by becoming an active alum.

If you are interested in finding out more about mentoring scholarship opportunities, please contact SNHU Institutional Advancement office.

Donald J. Brezinski
Vice President, Institutional Advancement
603.645.9688
d.brezinski@snhu.edu