Alumna and Donor Pay it Forward

When COVID-19 arrived, Melanie Maddix (BSc 2019) began to reflect on what she was thankful for and what she could do to make a difference.  “I was grateful to have steady employment and thought it was an important time to donate to causes that are helping people manage the crisis.”  She chose to give back to the Howard F. Andrews Memorial Award, the same scholarship that she received as a student at UTM. 

While Melanie’s goal to pay it forward connects her to future award recipients, she also shares a link to a piece of UTM’s history.  Professor Howard F. Andrews was an urban and social geographer who also served as the associate dean of social sciences (1975-79) and as vice-principal, academic (1979-80).  Passing away suddenly in 1988, family, friends and colleagues established the Howard F. Andrews Memorial Award to honour his memory and legacy at UTM. 

Melanie received the award in the final year of her double major program in Geography and Geographical Information Systems.  As she embarked on an undergraduate thesis project on air pollution working with Dr. Matthew Adams, she also met Luba Andrews, wife of the late Professor Howard F. Andrews and loyal donor to the award.  “It was wonderful to have the opportunity to meet Luba Andrews and show her our research lab.” 

For Melanie, receiving the award was especially meaningful, “Thanks to the award I was able devote more of my time to the research. Ultimately, we were able to get the work published, which was very exciting."