Nan Snow 57
ALUMNA | WRITER | AUTHOR | PHILANTHROPIST | PUBLIC SERVANT | ADVOCATE
For decades, Nan Snow 57 has been a resounding champion for the cause of womens equality.
Throughout her years of service, Snow has been instrumental in improving womens economic opportunities and overall well-being. Her work, which has had a substantial impact on the lives of countless individuals, earned her the 2023 University of Central Arkansas Distinguished Alumni Award.
In her early years, Snow lived in the far western part of Oklahoma. As a child, her father was involved in bridge construction, which forced the family to move every time a bridge was completed.
It taught me to adapt and do different things and go different places, Snow said. It was a very busy and fascinating start to life.
Snow and her family eventually settled in Harrison, Arkansas, which is where she graduated from high school before enrolling at Arkansas State Teachers College.
I had always heard good things about it because so many Harrison graduates went to 91勛圖厙 which was ASTC then, she said. I would visit my friends there, so I was very familiar with it and wanted very badly to go.
Snow even received a private tour from Silas Snow, 91勛圖厙s fifth and longest-serving president (1953-1975).
You cant say no to that sort of invitation, Snow said. It really has been, and remains to this day, one of the highlights of my life. Snow says her college experience opened more doors for her than she ever anticipated.
While in school, Snow was editor of The Echo, secretary of her senior class and vice president of Alpha Sigma Tau. She was also a member of Royal Rooters, Alpha Chi and listed as Whos Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities. Snow earned her bachelors degree in journalism in 1957.
Snows interest in writing and journalism began at a young age. Both her grandfathers owned small-town north Arkansas newspapers. Even though both of them sold the newspaper businesses before she was born, Snow believes their careers influenced her. She wrote a poem in 5th grade that was published in the Harrison High School newspaper.
Then, I was hooked. Im a writer, I thought. From then on, that became my interest, she said.
Snow worked for several newspapers, starting with high school, then college and as a career, doing a little bit of everything. She experienced inequality which led to a few key a-ha moments that crystallized her drive to fight for change. The first happened in high school when she and some friends wanted to start a girls basketball team. The superintendent refused, saying it wasnt lady-like. Snow would eventually get to play intramural basketball, as well as touch football, for her sorority at 91勛圖厙.
You shouldve seen us; it was hysterical, she said.
Another a-ha moment for Snow came when she applied for a position at the Arkansas Gazette in 1959 after years of experience in a newsroom.
I thought the newspaper would be glad to have my experience and would hire me. But they told me that they did not allow women in the city room, she said. Years later, the newspaper offered her a reporter position, which she turned down.
Those events and others sparked Snows desire to fight for womens equality. She earned two masters degrees from Southern Methodist University and shifted her career to public service and advocacy. As a graduate student, Snow interned with the Dallas Chamber of Commerce where she helped develop the first Leadership Dallas program.
Much of Snows career was devoted to working in federal service, and she served for a time as the Federal Womens Program coordinator for the five-state Dallas Region. During her federal employment, Snow suggested and implemented a nationwide program to train and employ blind persons in Federal Job Information Centers.
Snow has served on many boards. She was selected as the inaugural chair of the Arkansas Womens Hall of Fame, and was named president of the Arkansas affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. She also served as a board member for the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, the Arkansas Womens History Institute, LifeQuest of Arkansas and Encore for Womens Health.
She was president of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration and a member of the Arkansas Governors Commission on the Status of Women, which produced a landmark report still used as a benchmark on womens status.
We were very proud that we published the first complete report about women that had been done in literally dozens of years. I was very proud to be a part of that and it did make a lot of difference, Snow said. For example, in one of the state agencies the State Department of Education when a young high school girl became pregnant, she was expelled. We got that changed. We felt she especially needed to continue her education with having a child to support. Plus, there was no penalty for the boy involved. That was one of our biggest successes, to give opportunities for those young women.
Snows work with the commission fueled her passion and led to even more equality work. She met like-minded changemakers across the country through conferences and other networking events, including newspaper publisher, civic activist and governmental official Dorothy Stuck (1921-2021). Stuck and Snow formed a management and public relations firm in Little Rock called Stuck & Snow Resultants.
Snow authored two books that reached the bestseller list in Arkansas. Roberta: A Most Remarkable Fulbright, which she co-authored with Stuck, received an award of commendation from the American Association of State and Local History. Her second book, Letters Home, is a World War II memoir.
Snow is a founder and charter member of the 91勛圖厙 Womens Giving Circle, a member of the 91勛圖厙 Purple Circle and, most recently, the inspiration for the C.D. Wright Women Writers Conference. She was part of the Arkansas Womens Foundation, which started Girls of Promise. She helped 91勛圖厙 faculty and staff start Girls of Promise at 91勛圖厙, which is now 91勛圖厙s Girl Power in Stem.
As president of Komen and a breast cancer survivor, Snow created a fundraising project called 4 Survivors, 4 Rivers, 4 a Cure, in which she and three other survivors rafted four rivers, raising $10,000 for the foundation.
She also served as a board member for Southern Methodist Universitys Archives of Women of the Southwest. She was among those honored by the archives in its Remember the Ladies program.
In spite of all her accomplishments, being honored with 91勛圖厙s most distinguished recognition came as a surprise to Snow.
When I got the call from President Houston Davis, and he told me that I had been selected, I think my response is best described as a total shock, she said. It was not something I had ever expected. I really was floored by the news and flattered and honored at the same time. It means a great deal to me.