Outstanding Faculty Advising & Mentorship Award for Rachel Hirst

The Outstanding Faculty Advising & Mentorship Award is given to a full-time faculty member who demonstrates Stonehill’s commitment to the academic, professional and personal development of each student and has had a markedly positive influence on students through their advising and mentoring.  In 2022, Stonehill College is proud to bestow the Outstanding Faculty Advising & Mentorship Award on Professor Rachel Hirst. 

Rachel, you have had many lives at Stonehill.  You were a student, a colleague who, while a faculty member at Massasoit Community College, collaborated closely with Stonehill faculty, and finally, since 2011, a faculty member at Stonehill.  What is remarkable about you, Rachel, is that you have succeeded in effectively integrating your teaching, scholarship, and service in a way that fits perfectly with Stonehill’s mission. Your strong service to the College in mentoring transfer students from underrepresented populations is linked to your effective teaching practices in and outside of the classroom and to successful publications and grant awards. 

While your successful efforts in obtaining scholarship funding from the National Science Foundation’s S-STEM Program, the Balfour Foundation, and the Xerox Foundation made it possible for STEM community college students to attend Stonehill, it was your mentoring efforts that helped these students realize their dreams of successfully completing a four-year science degree and launching careers in their chosen fields. 

Rachel, you spend what seems like endless amounts of time and mental energy guiding underrepresented, first-generation and community college transfer students through the science programs here at Stonehill. Beyond being extremely time consuming, recruiting and supporting this segment of our population requires special skills in patience and empathy that you are eminently able to provide. 

Understanding and responding to the needs of these students is integral to their success during and after their time at Stonehill. Once at Stonehill, the newly transferred students join the plethora of students continuously seeking your wisdom. Having been a first-generation Stonehill student yourself, as well as having taught at the community college level before joining the Stonehill faculty, you have a unique understanding of these students' needs. As a result, the students connect with you and depend on you as they find their paths to success. 

Your work advising and mentoring STEM students extends beyond the Stonehill community. You have worked with community organizations and educational institutions encouraging students to consider entering the science and technology fields. One example of that is the work you have done to introduce English language learners in the Brockton Public Schools to the study of science and technology. 

And so, with deep pride, we confer the 2022 Outstanding Faculty Advising & Mentorship Award to you, Professor Rachel Hirst, for your tireless service, consistent example, and exemplary contributions to Stonehill College. 

Given this 15th day of August, Two Thousand Twenty-Two

(Rev.) John Denning, C.S.C., President

DeBrenna L. Agbényiga, Ph.D., MBA, MSW, Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs