Every Book Tells a Story - Nancy L. Hadaway
In every library, you will find a mountain of stories - tales of adventure and faraway lands. In most libraries, you will also find a slew of employees, volunteers, and supporters. People who when asked why they do it, respond that it is because they want others to enjoy the experience of exploring different cultures and languages. Books present a boundless world of opportunity and those who advocate for them tend to be content to encourage others to enjoy the journey.
Nancy L. Hadaway is one of those people you will find quietly supporting the quest for knowledge.
Hadaway is a retired professional educator. To this day, she remains a stalwart supporter of the written word in all its various forms. She once worked as a professor of literacy studies in the College of Education at The University of Texas at Arlington after teaching English and Spanish in secondary schools in Colorado and Texas as well as adult education classes in Germany. Even then, while at UTA, she found a way to financially support her students.
"I came to UTA in 1989 as a faculty member," Hadaway says. "I began to donate to UTA during a time when there were budget cutbacks, and I participated in the Adopt a Journal program with the UTA Library. I donated funds to the subscriptions for literacy journals in order to support the library and the research resources that my students needed to use."
As professor emeritus, she is still motivated to give back, creating an endowed scholarship with her husband Arthur Sikes to encourage exploring the world.
"My husband and I were very fortunate to live and work abroad. This allowed us to learn about other cultures and encouraged us to travel widely. Because I was a foreign language major at the undergraduate level, the opportunity to live and work abroad was a dream come true. In establishing the endowed scholarship, I hope to enable students to travel and study abroad and to enhance their education and awareness of other cultures."
The Nancy L. Hadaway and Arthur D. Sikes, Jr. Endowed Scholarship Fund was established and funded in 2018. It will award scholarships in the fall of 2019. Hadaway will also provide additional funding through a deferred gift as she has named UTA the full beneficiary of an IRA. She named UTA as a recipient of her retirement assets to create a study abroad scholarship that will inspire others to look for knowledge beyond the confines of the University's physical campus.
She says, "Making a deferred gift is a simple process and ensures that you can create a legacy that continues. I hope that students are encouraged to extend their learning beyond the traditional boundaries of the University by studying and traveling abroad."
Learning from her own experience and embodying the dedicated commitment of a library supporter, Hadaway is enabling future generations of Mavericks to go forth and discover their stories.
We hope that Hadaway, as a Friends of the UTA Libraries member, continues to fill the pages of her book with tales of foreign places and sends back her wisdom to be archived and cherished at UTA.
You can also create a legacy at UTA and help shape future generations of leaders. To explore legacy giving options, please contact the Office of Gift and Estate Planning.
