Gifts invested will provide long-term support to be used at the discretion of the director of the UW Tacoma Library that support activities, projects and programs to enhance the excellence of the UW Tacoma Library, including but not limited to collections, services, lectures and publications.
Created in 2008 from a bequest of the estate of Garrol L. Floe.
Gifts available immediately to be used at the discretion of the director of the UW Tacoma Library that support activities, projects and programs to enhance the excellence of the UW Tacoma Library, including but not limited to collections, services, lectures and publications.
To provide support for the UW Tacoma Library to benefit the creative writing materials collection.
Phil Heldrich was a professor of literature and creative writing at the University of Washington Tacoma. He was a dedicated and passionate educator, where he mentored countless emerging writers and scholars and served as faculty advisor for Tahoma West, the UW Tacoma literary journal. Professor Heldrich’s book of poetry, Good Friday, was published in 2000 and won the X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize. His essay collection, Out Here in the Out There, received the Mid-List Press First Series award. His poetry, fiction, essays, literary criticism, and reviews were anthologized and published in such literary journals as The North American Review, Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Southern Quarterly, Flyway: Journal of Writing and Environment, Seattle Review, and many others.
In 2009, he was diagnosed with cancer, and on November 11, 2010, he died at the age of 45 of complications from his illness. The Creative Writing Materials Fund was established by a donation of the Southwest Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Association, of which Phil served as Executive Director. The Fund has grown through the donations of friends, family and colleagues following a memorial held in Phil’s honor at the UW Tacoma campus on January 7, 2011.
To purchase books and materials for the UW Tacoma Library Children’s and Young Adult Literature Collection.
Belinda Louie, a member of the UW Tacoma Education faculty since 1992, is an expert in children’s literature, literacy instruction and teaching English as a Second Language. “I surround myself with books, and I want to leave a legacy of the love of books,” Louie said. “By helping the library expand this collection, we are encouraging both children and adults to love books.” She received her Ph.D. in Education with a focus on K-8 and bilingual and bi-cultural education, and discovered that juvenile literature was something that could be used to teach her classes.
The books in the collection are used primarily by UW Tacoma Education students who are researching children’s literature and by students with children, according to the then Library Director in 2006, Charles Lord. “Children’s books are great for researching cultural norms and customs,” Lord said. “They contain a lot of useful information and images capturing the spirit of different cultures.”
As a 25th wedding anniversary gift Douglas Louie surprised his wife by creating this endowed fund.
Support the Louie Children’s & Young Adult Literature Endowed Fund
To purchase books and other materials that enhance collections, programs and services of the UW Tacoma Library. Initiated with a gift from the Greater Tacoma Community Foundations for children’s literature.