Nancy Hamlin, right, and her husband John Altoff
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock announced planned gifts to the university totaling $375,000 that will support its School of Social Work and Public Radio Operating Endowment.
The first donation from alumna Nancy Hamlin, a gift of $250,000, will create the Nancy J. Hamlin Endowed Professorship in Social Work in the College of Business, Health, and Human Services.
Hamlin spent 35 years as a social worker, with more than 30 years in the mental health sector, the university said in a news release. She earned bachelor’s degrees in psychology and sociology at UA Little Rock.
“This is my opportunity to pay it forward and give back what they gave me,” Hamlin said in the release. “There were some very fine teachers when I attended the university. My family has always believed in education, and you need good teachers to do that. Creating an endowed professorship was my husband John Althoff’s idea.”
Hamlin’s second donation, a $125,000 planned gift, will go to the UA Little Rock Public Radio Operating Endowment. After listening to UA Little Rock Public Radio since the 1970s, Hamlin wanted to support the power of public radio to help communities across Arkansas.
“Probably the biggest impetus for my gift was learning that Joan Kroc (widow of McDonald’s Corp. founder Ray Kroc) left money to NPR,” Hamlin said in the release. “I remember thinking, ‘what a kind and thoughtful gift that is,’ and I wanted to follow in her footsteps.”
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