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Two Boston College Connell School of Nursing faculty members will be honored by the American Nurses Association Massachusetts at its convention this weekend.
Associate Professor of Adult Health Catherine Read will receive the 2015 Mary A. Manning Nurse Mentoring Award, given annually to a nurse who exemplifies the ideal image of a mentor and has established a record of consistent outreach to nurses in practice or in the pursuit of advanced education.
Also at the convention, Professor Emerita Joellen Hawkins will accept the Community Service Award.
Read, who served as associate dean for undergraduate programs from 2006 to 2014, has led the Connell School’s Keys to Inclusive Leadership in Nursing (KILN) program since its inception in 2009. As KILN director, she oversees a leadership development program for some 50 nursing students annually that provides faculty mentorship and networking in order to better prepare nurses for a multicultural society.
“Cathy Read has been a mentor to undergraduate nursing students for her entire career and has consistently worked with new nurses to mentor them to become the best nurses they can be,” said CSON Dean and Professor Susan Gennaro. “As director of the KILN program, she provides mentorship developing the nurse leaders of tomorrow and as associate dean for the undergraduate program she served as a mentor for developing new nurses with the highest standards of professionalism.”
“My work at Boston College has blessed me with many opportunities to do the important work of mentoring the next generation of nurses, and the rewards far outweigh the efforts. Any success I have had is the direct result of the excellent mentoring I received throughout my career,” said Read.
Read recalled her first formal mentoring relationship in 2002 with CSON freshman Tricia Gordon. “I was intimidated at the time because I subscribed to the myths that mentors must have all the answers and be from a background similar to the protégé in order for the match to be comfortable. I soon realized how false those assumptions were. Today, Tricia [BS ’06, MS ’13] is a nurse practitioner at Massachusetts General Hospital and a clinical faculty member at Boston College. We are close friends, and I have used what I learned from our relationship as I direct the activities of the KILN program.”
“Cathy Read has gone above and beyond to help me, even before she was my official mentor through KILN. She’s helped me decide classes to take and extracurriculars to participate in,” said sophomore Elizabeth Byrne. “It’s clear that she wants not just me, but all the nursing students, to succeed, and she does all she can to ensure this. I’m truly grateful for everything Cathy has done for me and for all that I’ve learned from her. She is more than just a mentor, but a true role model.”
"Cathy Read has truly made my nursing education at Boston College a better experience," added Kadiatu Tejan '16. "She is not only a mentor, but a friend, and I cherish that more than anything. She has been extremely supportive of me and my desire to succeed. Overall she is a wonderful person, and I am grateful I had the opportunity to meet her."
Hawkins, who taught at the Connell School for some 30 years, has regularly collected donations of household items, clothing, children’s playthings and books for about 30 agencies in eastern Massachusetts, including Head Starts in Newton and Haverhill, the Women’s Lunch Place, Crittenton House, Newton’s Second Step, Youth on Fire, and Roxbury’s First Parish’s youth programs, among others.
She also has conducted prenatal care classes for pregnant homeless women at the Pine Street Inn and volunteered as a women’s health nurse practitioner for Sidney Borum Jr. Health Center in Boston. She has regularly visited an inmate at the women’s state correctional facility in Framingham and coordinated a holiday gift bag project for prisoners at MCI-Concord.
For more than a decade, she organized the annual silent auction held during the Connell School’s holiday party, which raised money for Rosie’s Place. Boston College recognized Hawkins in 2000 with its Distinguished Service Award.
Others who will be honored at the meeting include Connell School alumnae Sara Looby (Excellence in Nursing Research Award) and Anne P. Manton (Living Legends in Massachusetts Nursing Award).
As a constituent member of the American Nurses Association, ANA Massachusetts is recognized as the voice of registered nursing through advocacy, education, leadership and practice. ANA Massachusetts is committed to the advancement of the profession of nursing and of quality patient care across the state.