Mollie Henager (’18) has been named Director of Development, Foundation Relations for the College of Education (COE) at the University of Central Arkansas.
Henager’s new position will focus on fundraising and grant writing for the College of Education. “I will do this through donor engagement and relationship management with granting foundations,” said Henager, who officially began her new role on September 16.
A native of Conway, Ark., and a graduate of the University of Central Arkansas, Henager is excited to return to work for her alma mater.
“I graduated in April 2016 and went to the Clinton School that fall,” Henager said. “I am thrilled to be working at my alma mater. I grew so much as a person and a student on this campus, and I am excited to grow as a professional here as well. I had an amazing undergraduate experience at UCA, and I am very happy that through fundraising, I will help make the student experience even better for current and future COE students.”
Henager previously worked with Arkansas United, an immigrant rights nonprofit, as the organization’s Development Coordinator. She spent more than two years in Ollantaytambo, Peru, as the Director of Impact and Evaluation for Awamaki, a nonprofit that creates lasting impacts in the mountains of Peru by helping rural Andean women’s associations launch successful small businesses.
Working with the College of Education, Henager said that she was attracted to the job because of the opportunity to manage the foundation relations and the emphasis on grant writing, which was an important part of her jobs with Arkansas United and Awamaki.
“Since learning more about the position and the priorities of the COE, I am thrilled that the programs for which I will be fundraising align well with my own values,” Henager said. “The UCA COE has a strong focus on DBIE initiatives and building a more diverse and equitable teacher workforce in Arkansas, and I am so glad to be a small part of reaching that goal.”
Before joining Awamaki in a full-time role, Henager partnered with the organization on her International Public Service Project in the summer of 2017. That summer, she facilitated a demographic survey and developed and implemented a series of empowerment workshops for women working in Awamaki’s various cooperatives.
She was selected as a McLarty Scholar in 2017, earning a semester-long fellowship at Vital Voices Global Partnership in Washington, D.C. She piloted a social network analysis of Vital Voices’ Economic Empowerment and Entrepreneurship program, VV GROW, a business accelerator that empowers women entrepreneurs across the world.
Responses