Wadden Family honored with endowment for clinical psychology name change

September 20, 2026

As noted five years ago in the Carolina Arts and Sciences magazine, Dr. Thomas Wadden, a 1981 graduate of UNC’s clinical psychology program, established a University endowment to support graduate student training in psychology, as well as a prize for distinguished research in behavioral medicine and health psychology. Wadden is professor of psychology in psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has conducted research on the consequences and treatment of obesity for 45 years. “I’ve had a wonderful career in psychology, and it all started with my exceptionally gifted and generous mentors at Carolina, to whom I’ll always be grateful,” said Wadden.

“The only regret I have about my endowment at Carolina is that, in naming it, I did not recognize my family members who were Tar Heels long before I,” Wadden shared.

His father, Thomas Wadden, Jr, received his undergraduate degree from UNC, played on the nationally acclaimed men’s tennis team and left campus ready to serve as an ensign in the U.S. Navy in World War II. He returned to Carolina after the war to obtain his law degree and to meet his wife-to-be, Mary Lloyd Craddock, a graduate of the class of 1948. The couple wed in 1950.

“My parents absolutely loved their time at UNC and spoke of it frequently” Wadden commented, “particularly when my grandmother, Annie Ihrie Pou Wadden, joined us for holiday meals.” Her father, Edward W. Pou, graduated with UNC’s class of 1884 and went on to practice law in Smithfield, North Carolina, before being elected in 1900 to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served until his passing in 1934.

In recognition of his family’s deep ties to UNC and his sister’s generous contributions to the Thomas Wadden Fund over the past five years, Wadden decided to rename the endowment the Wadden Family Fund for Clinical Psychology. “This name recognizes not only my family who attended UNC and my sister, Anne Wadden Peck, but also my extraordinary wife, Jan Linowitz, Ed.D., a child psychologist, and our three sons, David, Michael and Steven. “Our family has been thrilled to welcome Jack (born to David and Jiechen Chen) and Sophie Wadden (born to Michael and Sara) in the past three years. No doubt, some holiday dinner, I’ll tell them about our family’s North Carolina heritage and deep love for UNC, but I’m determined to keep my stories shorter than my grandmother Ihrie’s,” Wadden laughed.