Two TCU alumni who are now on the faculty were the winners of the two prestigious awards presented at Fall Convocation last week. Chancellor Victor J. Boschini presented the Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Achievement as a Creative Teacher and Scholar to Harry Parker (chair of the Dept. of Theatre) and the Wassenich Award for Mentoring in the TCU Community to Diane Hawley (Harris College of Nursing).

Parker earned master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Kansas. He served on the faculty of Westmar College in Iowa, and spent 11 years as the director of Theatre at Emporia State University in Kansas. He returned to TCU as department chair in 2003. In Fort Worth, he has directed professionally for Amphibian Stage Productions, Jubilee Theatre and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, as well as having directed nine shows for Circle Theatre.

He also serves as the managing director of Trinity Shakespeare Festival which takes place each June on campus and hosts a weekly radio show, Curtain Up, on 88.7 KTCU-FM, which features tunes from musical theatre.

As associate professor of Professional Practice in Harris College, Diane Ackall Hawley notes that she understands the value of mentoring because of her own experience of having a few great mentors in her life, beginning with her own mother and her academic career. She went from TCU to Texas Woman’s University for a master’s degree and New Mexico State University for her Ph.D. degree and joined the TCU faculty in 1998.

Students who wrote letters of support for her Wassenich nomination never failed to mention her unique involvement in their lives.