NATCHITOCHES – The family of a former Northwestern State University faculty member created two scholarships to benefit students pursuing careers in nursing/allied health and business.

 The Bacdayan Family First Generation Scholarship in Nursing and Allied Health and the Bacdayan Family First Generation Scholarship in Business will each be presented to a student in those majors from his or her incoming year through graduation. The student must be a Louisiana resident and maintain a 2.5 grade point average. 

Both scholarships were each created with a $60,000 contribution that will be matched by the Board of Regents in January to be fulfilled at $100,000.

“This is great news for our business and nursing and allied health programs,” said NSU Development Officer Jill Bankston, CFRE.

Wali Bacdayan and his wife Dr. Wendy Neel Bacdayan selected the business and nursing/allied health fields because of their own chosen career paths. Mr. Bacdayan is a co-founder and partner in a private equity investment firm, Incline Equity Partners, based in Pittsburgh. Incline Equity Partners manages roughly $1.4 billion in assets and acquires manufacturing, distribution and outsourced services companies valued between $50 million and $200 million. Dr. Bacdayan is a pediatrician in private practice in Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania, in suburban Pittsburgh.

“My ties to Natchitoches and NSU are deep and numerous,” Mr. Bacdayan said.  “I grew up in Natchitoches and lived there from 1973-1988.  My father, Dr. Andrew Bacdayan, was an economics professor at NSU for many years.  I attended NSU Elementary Lab, NSU Middle Lab, Natchitoches Central High School and graduated from LSMSA.  I am still an avid Demons sports fan and watch, listen or attend any NSU game that I can.”

Bacdayan and his wife earned bachelor’s degrees from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. Mr. Bacdayan earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. His wife earned her MD from West Virginia University. The couple has three sons, Ben, 15; William, 13, and Charlie, 10. They have lived in Upper St. Clair for nearly 20 years, but also spend time at their house on Kiawah Island, South Carolina.

“Both my parents and my wife’s parents always viewed education as a means to pursue greater opportunities for themselves as well as for their children,” Bacdayan said.  “For my parents, it was the avenue that brought them to the U.S. from the Philippines.  I’ve seen how a college education can change the lives of not only the recipient of it, but it can change the lives of their family’s for generations to come.”

For information on creating or supporting student scholarships at Northwestern State, visit northwesternstatealumni.com or call (318) 357-4414.