Professor Pamela Lombardi honored with 2021 Hegarty Award

The Louise F. Hegarty Award for Excellence in Teaching is given each year to a full-time faculty member whose teaching has had a marked influence on the lives of Stonehill students. The Committee on Excellence in Teaching, representing Students, Faculty, and the Alumni Council, selects the outstanding teacher from those nominated by students and faculty members. The award is named in honor of one of Stonehill’s most accomplished teachers and the recipient stands as a symbol of the entire faculty’s commitment to teaching and academic excellence. At this 2021 Academic Convocation, Stonehill College is proud to bestow the Louise F. Hegarty Award for Excellence in Teaching on Professor Pamela Lombardi, Assistant Professor of Chemistry.

While many outstanding professors are nominated for this prestigious award, few receive the number of impassioned nominations from students, alumni, and colleagues as Professor Lombardi. Her commitment to teaching excellence, mentoring, and student success is obvious in these words of students and faculty who nominated her for this recognition.

• Professor Lombardi genuinely cares about all of her students and makes sure they know that they are worth more than just a letter grade in a class. On my final exam in general chemistry, l did not get [as good of a] grade as I was hoping for and I was a bit frustrated and discouraged. However, while I was home for the start of winter break, I received an email from Professor Lombardi saying how she was impressed with my final exam and the work I had done towards the end of the class as I showed improvement over the course of the semester. While it was solely an email, it meant so much to me and made me feel more confident in my abilities…I'm a bit of a chemistry nerd now and that was sparked by having Professor Lombardi during my freshman year.
• [Professor Lombardi] once told me that she only gets paid to grade since she would still teach for free for the love of it. As someone who was terrified of taking chemistry after a bad experience in high school, she has completely turned that around for me. She has had such a strong impact on me and has made me love chemistry to the point that I will most likely switch to being a chemistry major.
• I remember walking through the halls of the chemistry department one afternoon as a freshman and Professor Lombardi came up to me and said, “Hi Hannah, how are you doing this semester?” Keep in mind, I was a freshman, new to campus, and had never had her as a professor. I was amazed that she had made an effort to know my name even though she never had me as a student. Professor Lombardi is someone who cares about her students more than anyone else I know. She cares about students who are not even her own!
• As her former department chair, I know her course evaluations have always been stellar, the best in the department, but her excellence in teaching goes far beyond the evaluations. Yes, she is very organized in her classes and presents the material in a very clear manner while setting very high standards for her students. Although these qualities are important, it is her ability to connect with the students that truly sets her apart from the rest of us. More than anyone else I know, she provides the students with a sense of belongingness that makes them comfortable and want to learn.

As her department chair noted, “[Pam] never rests with good enough; she continually wants to make her courses better. Pam thinks deeply about every single aspect, down to the most minute concept, to ensure that she is teaching it as clearly and cohesively as possible.” And so, it is with profound pride and gratitude that today, Stonehill recognizes Professor Pamela Lombardi for her outstanding teaching in service to our students.

Given this twenty-fifth day of August, two thousand twenty-one.