Jane Chu, NEA chair, is a true daughter of Ouachita
January 01, 2020
You might know that Dr. Jane Chu, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts,
graduated from Ouachita Baptist University. But did you know that she spent most of
her growing-up years on our campus?
Jane’s father, Dr. Finley Chu, was invited to join the Ouachita faculty as chairman
of OBU’s business and economics division when Jane was 6 years old. Four years later,
Dr. Chu passed away from cancer. After his death, Jane’s mother, Rosemary, became
a hall director in the newly opened Frances Crawford Hall. “Mom” Chu went on to serve
more than 42 years in Frances Crawford before retiring in 2009.
In Mom Chu’s biography, “Rosemary: A Journey from East to West,” Lou Anne Locke writes:
“Jane needed a normal childhood with love and security, with routine, and a parent
who gave attention without being smothering. The answer to this need came from Ouachita.
… A dormitory counselor, generally called a Dorm Mom, was needed and Rosemary was
offered the position. … So Rosemary became Mom Chu. … Jane became a dorm little sister.
For example, Jane says that when she was very young, she would offer, for a nickel,
to tip the girls off when her mother planned to check rooms! She was a little friend
indeed.”
As Jane grew up, she sparked an interest with music and began to play and learn.
“Jane, being a musically talented child and popular with her classmates, seemed to
have more and more expensive needs every year,” Locke writes in her book. “A piano
was one of Jane’s early needs, and Rosemary bought a truly fine one. ... The piano
is still good today and Jane is a fine musician.
Jane eventually became the accompanist for her high school choir and went on to earn
bachelor’s degrees in piano performance and music education at Ouachita. During her
time at OBU, Jane was a member of the Ouachi-Tones, Concert Band and Ouachita Student
Foundation and was named Homecoming Queen, Miss Ouachita Baptist University and Outstanding
Senior Woman.
Reflecting on the impact of her Ouachita education, Chu told The Ouachita Circle, “Our world has become so globally connected and our future leaders must learn to
synthesize diverse perspectives. My liberal arts education from Ouachita helped me
learn how to address these multiple perspectives.
“My singular favorite Ouachita memory is of the people,” Chu added. “They cared about
you as a person first and foremost. That’s the Ouachita brand.”
By Haley Martin, a senior mass communications major from Little Rock, Ark.
Dr. Jane Chu will deliver the 2016 Birkett Williams Lecture at Ouachita on Sept. 27. Read more about that event here.
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