The Class of 2010 Library Endowment was established in 2010 as the Senior Legacy gift designation. The class joined together to create and support the fund, which was generously matched by Tom and Laura Woodward. Their daughter, Katie (’10, '14 J.D.), graduated with a degree in political science in 2010 and a law degree from the Notre Dame Law School in 2014. Tom and Laura felt this was an appropriate effort for them to be involved in, since their daughter had spent so much of her time in the Hesburgh Library. The Woodward Senior Legacy Challenge, its original name, rallied record-breaking student support with nearly 400 donors – more than any previous class.

Tom is owner of Woodward McCoach Inc., an electronics design and software development firm in Pennsylvania. At Notre Dame, he is a member of the Graduate Studies and Research Advisory Council. The Woodwards are members of the President’s Circle and also support Innovation Park.

Due to its flexibility, this endowment is of great value to the Hesburgh Libraries. It supports a myriad of scholarly work, encouraging excellence in academics. Funding from it has already supported the recent acquisition of the Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO), which is a primary source material collection product providing access to monographs, newspapers, manuscripts, maps, and more in the areas of British politics and society, European literature 1790-1840, Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange, and British theatre, music, and literature.