The Outstanding Faculty Service Award is given to a full-time faculty member whose service has significantly advanced the mission of Stonehill College. The Faculty Academic Vision statement affirms that “a Stonehill education prepares students for meaningful lives by encouraging service to the common good, the practice of responsible citizenship, and the pursuit of professional and personal fulfillment.” As we expect this for our students, we expect the same from our faculty. Therefore, public service and service to the academic community are highly valued by the faculty at Stonehill College. This award recognizes a cumulative record of noteworthy accomplishment in service on the part of a faculty member. The recipient stands as a symbol of the entire faculty’s commitment to sustaining our community. In 2019, Stonehill College is proud to bestow the Outstanding Faculty Service Award on Professor Allyson Sheckler.

You came to Stonehill in 1995 in a part-time position into what was the beginnings of the Fine Arts program. Your energy, enthusiasm for teaching, and a love for taking on challenges landed you a full-time position four years later. For many of your first years at Stonehill, you were the slide librarian for the program. While the slides have gone away, your service remains and what a legacy of service you have given us. You have been a clear-eyed and passionate advocate for students and colleagues no matter the cost. In the end, you have made Stonehill a more just and compassionate place.

You provided consistent leadership in the department of Fine Arts/Visual and Performing Arts between 2000 and 2014, when you served as Chair, Co-Chair, or unofficial “assistant to the Chair.” Indeed, your mentor and friend, Prof. Carole Calo, spoke glowingly of your effective administrative skills and your uncanny ability to both smoothly resolve budgetary concerns and satisfy the Easton Fire Marshall that the art studios were safe! With Carole, you were a strong advocate for the department which grew from three to thirteen full-time faculty during this time. (Just how many faculty searches were you part of?) During the dark days following Prof. Calo’s untimely death, you were a source of support and strength to your colleagues.

Never one to shy away from work, you served for many years on the General Education Advisory Committee and helped break in more than one Dean or Director of General Education. When the infamous decision was made to move from a course-based to a credit-based curriculum, you joined the working group that met endlessly, including over two summers, to make this happen. When it became obvious that such a change also entailed a change in faculty teaching loads, you enlisted again and did a second tour of duty as a member of the Faculty Workload Committee. And let’s not even mention (though we will) your service on the SURE, Information Technology, and Strategic Planning Committees.

Since 2015, you have served as the Director of the Moreau Honors Program. Through your leadership, a new application and admission process has been developed, the Honors Advisory Council has been revitalized, and the opportunity for Honors students to design their own learning communities has been created. While all of these initiatives have cost you countless hours, students have been better served.

And even with all of your service, you never have stopped honing your craft as a teacher and mentor. After all, you won the Hegarty Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2007.

And so with deep pride we confer the 2019 Outstanding Faculty Service Award to you, Professor Allyson Sheckler, for your tireless service, consistent example, and exemplary contributions to Stonehill College.

Given this second day of May,

Two thousand and nineteen