Board Approves Naming of McAda Graduate School

The Midwestern State University Board of Regents approved today the naming of the Dr. Billie Doris McAda Graduate School in recognition of the MSU alumna's $2 million gift to the Graduate School. From the gift, $1.8 million has been placed in endowment with the remaining sum available for immediate use in marketing, promotional purposes, scholarships, enrollment support, and expenditures related to and benefiting the McAda Graduate School. 

"Dr. McAda's passion for graduate education and her generous gift positions the MSU Graduate School to support scores of students who will become the experts and leaders of their chosen fields," said Dr. Deborah Garrison, Dean of the Graduate School. "This gift will foster development of a preeminent Graduate School to stand as a testament to the benefits of graduate education and as an enduring symbol of Dr. McAda's legacy." 

McAda graduated from Midwestern University in 1957 with a Bachelor of Science degree in general business and a minor in economics. She received her master's degree and a Ph.D. in counseling from the University of North Texas. McAda worked as a counselor in the Dallas Independent School District for 40 years. She still lives in the Dallas area. 

A Wichita Falls native, McAda is the daughter of Ingle and Doris McAda. She graduated from Wichita Falls High School in 1953 and entered Midwestern University that fall. She was involved in activities ranging from the Spurettes, a group dedicated to promoting western folklore, to the Business Club. She was class favorite her junior year. During her senior year she was named Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities and was a cheerleader, class beauty, and homecoming queen. 

McAda's friend and caregiver Maureen Brown said that McAda's years at Midwestern defined her socially and educationally, and are the reason she has made Midwestern the recipient of her gift. "Midwestern was so good to her. From her professors, to classmates, to family and friends - when the time came for a decision on this gift, we couldn't think of a more perfect and fitting legacy." 

Ingle McAda was an engineer with Wichita Engineering and in later years designed the brick signs that grace MSU's main entrances. When McAda was 11 years old, her father was teaching a group of pilots at their house and let his young daughter sit in with the group. One of the pilots had a daughter who had earned a Ph.D. According to Brown, when McAda saw her father's positive reaction to hearing that a young woman had earned a doctorate, she made earning her own doctorate her goal. McAda worked while earning her advanced degrees and received her own doctorate in 1983.