Janet Heineck, ’70, ’72, studied several languages during her 34 years as a UW employee. Now she has made a lasting investment in future language students.
Janet Heineck browses the shelves in Suzzallo Library’s Smith Room.
Janet Heineck’s mother, Catherine, always had a taste for armchair adventure.
“‘Of Men and Mountains’ was a favorite,” Heineck says. “So were ‘The Swiss Family Robinson’ and ‘West with the Night.’ In her later years, my mother would also come down to the UW and take ACCESS classes in all kinds of things when she was able. She really enjoyed it.”
Heineck inherited her mother’s interest in continued learning — especially when it came to the cultures of distant lands. When the epic film “Lawrence of Arabia” was released in 1962, it sparked in Heineck such a strong interest in the Near East that she came to the UW to study Arabic.
In 1970, she became the first woman to earn a B.A. in Near Eastern Languages & Civilization from the UW. On her path to an M.A. from the department in 1972, she spent a summer studying Arabic in Cairo, Egypt, and also broadened her language studies to include Turkish.
Cataloging a career
But Heineck’s interest in language, culture and history didn’t stop when she earned her M.A. — and neither did her relationship with the UW. In 1980, she landed a job as the Middle East cataloger at the University Libraries, where she stayed until her retirement in 2014. In this role, she catalogued Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish and some Persian, as well as a range of subjects in English.
Along the way, she took two years of Hebrew at the University through the Washington State Employee Tuition Exemption Program. She also became the Libraries’ system selector for Jewish Studies, which made her responsible for acquiring books in Hebrew and Western-language Judaica.
“It was a treat to spend a few minutes each week looking at the selector review shelves to note the new books arriving,” says Heineck.
Heineck in front of Suzzallo Library, where she worked for 34 years.
As a selector, Heineck relied on donor support to purchase special items. One fund in particular, she recalls, had a major impact: the Stuart H. Gould Endowed Library Fund for Jewish Studies, which was created by Linda Gould and her husband, Howard Cottrell, in memory of Gould’s brother. “Because of this fund, I was able to buy high-ticket, briefly available things for the Libraries that we wouldn’t have been able to buy on a single budget line,” says Heineck.
Leading with curiosity
During her time with the Libraries, Heineck’s interest in other parts of the world continued to grow. After visiting friends in Kyoto, she began studying Japanese language and literature as an ACCESS student. Her first such course, taught by Paul Atkins, chair and professor in Asian Languages & Literature, was in Japanese literature. “It was fascinating,” says Heineck, who has returned to Japan several times since.
After she retired, Heineck began thinking of how she could support the learning experiences of others. Ultimately, she decided to create a discretionary endowment in the Department of Asian Languages & Literature. “By defining the endowment as a discretionary fund, I intended to provide current and future chairs with additional financial freedom to meet department needs as they arise,” she says.
And in honor of the woman whose adventurous spirit inspired her own, Heineck decided on a special name: the Catherine E. Heineck Endowed Fund for Asian Languages & Literature.
“In Japan, there is an especially strong respect for older people,” says Heineck. “With the many gifts my mother gave me, I wanted to remember her with this endowment.”
Heineck’s gift is a lasting investment in the future of language study — and, more broadly, in the study of the humanities at the University of Washington. As a truly flexible fund, it will support students, faculty and the department when they need it most.
“I’d like to share with prospective donors the following thoughts,” says Heineck. “Follow your interests, and take advantage of what the University offers in the way of satisfying that curiosity. Then, if you’re so inclined, help them do more of what you like so much.”