Diane Ackall Hawley ’81, associate professor of professional practice in nursing, received the Wassenich Award for Mentoring in the TCU Community at Fall Convocation last week. Another Harris College professor, Christopher Watts, was honored with the award last year.

Hawley earned her BSN at TCU and went on to earn her MSN at Texas Woman’s University and her doctoral degree at New Mexico State University. She was an assistant professor at the University of Texas at El Paso prior to coming to TCU. She also served in several nursing positions at John Peter Smith Health Network, Memorial Medical Center of Arlington and Providence Memorial Hospital in El Paso, Texas, among others.

Hawley spoke briefly when receiving the award about those who had mentored her and who had made a profound difference in her life – her mother, who was also a nursing educator, and professors Hawley had as an undergraduate and whom she now works alongside at TCU. She credits them with teaching her the importance of mentors, and how to be one.

The Wassenich Award for Mentoring in the TCU Community celebrates those who serve as role models, advisors and guides to students. The award honors Linda Pilcher Wassenich ’65 (Social Work) and Mark Wassenich ’64, TCU alumni whose generosity have made it possible. Linda serves on the Harris College Board of Visitors.

The Wassenich Award was first bestowed in 1999 and is now presented annually at Fall Convocation. The Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs administers the nomination process and there is a committee made up primarily of students, with faculty and staff representatives. All nominations are sent to the Chancellor, with a recommendation from the committee for four finalists. All finalists are recognized at Convocation and receive a cash award, with the recipient of the Wassenich Award introduced and awarded a larger amount.

One student wrote in her nomination that despite the large classes Hawley teaches, she works to know each student, and intentionally assesses what each of them needs, encouraging them and challenging them to be the best. She cited Hawley’s mantra, “They’ll never care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

An alumna wrote how Hawley encouraged her while working on her undergraduate and graduate degrees at TCU, showing her continued commitment to TCU. Hawley gave the then-graduate student her master’s hood, which had been given to her by a mentor several years before. She wrote, “A beautiful note about the history and future of both of us as nurses accompanied the generous gift. This note and hood expressed the academic and personal achievements Dr. Hawley was passing to me. I wore this symbol of great teaching, mentorship and friendship with pride as I crossed the stage, with a BSN and MSN behind me, and a nursing education career and beautiful family before me.”

Another student, who had to take medical withdrawal from her studies due to a life-threatening illness, wrote about Hawley’s care and concern for her, even when she was no longer a TCU student. Hawley became a personal advocate and care coordinator for her, as well as keeping the student’s family informed and taking care of her friends, who were so scared about her prognosis. One of those friends wrote in her nomination letter for Hawley, “That is not only the kind of nurse I hope to be, that is the kind of person I aspire to be.”