From research conferences to Shakespeare festivals, the opera stage to the African safari, the 2025 recipients of the Faculty Mentor Awards prove a good mentor can empower students in any setting.

Bestowed annually by the Pacific Alumni Association, the Faculty Mentor Awards recognize professors whose outstanding mentorship, dynamic teaching and individualized support have catalyzed students’ academic and career success. More than 60 current and retired faculty members have been honored since the award’s inception in 2008.

The 2025 honorees are:

• Rachelle Kisst Hackett, J. William Harris Professor of Educational Research
• Courtney Lehmann, Tully Knoles Endowed Professor of the Humanities
• Richard Tenaza, professor emeritus of biological sciences
• Lynelle Wiens, professor emerita of voice

“Each of us likely can identify someone whose belief in our abilities and personal investment in us has profoundly impacted our lives,” said Gretchen Edwalds-Gilbert, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “The Faculty Mentor Awards allow Pacific alumni to celebrate and thank professors for their immeasurable impacts, whether they connected someone to a job opportunity, made challenging material engaging or offered a safe space for difficult conversations. These are the gifts that stay with students for the rest of their lives.”

Honorees will be recognized during Homecoming and Family Weekend Sunday, Oct. 12 at 10:30 a.m. in the Don and Karen DeRosa University Center. Homecoming and Family Weekend registration is now open.

“Dr. Hackett’s encouragement played a huge part in my decision to pursue my EdD,” said Jasmine Patel ’22. “Though the idea of conducting research has always been frightening for me, she helped me see and believe that I am capable of it.”

For decades, Rachelle Kisst Hackett has instilled a deep appreciation for research in her students and colleagues. She specializes in research design, applied statistics and program evaluation, training students to design studies and critically analyze their own and others’ data. She has served on dozens of dissertation committees and leads numerous projects in collaboration with faculty and doctoral students, many of which they have presented at prestigious conferences.

Her students praise her intentionality, her thoughtful feedback and her ability to make the most daunting course material feel accessible and useful.

“I am a much better consumer of research literature because of Dr. Hackett and her courses,” Patel said. “This is a valuable gift that will serve me for the rest of my life.”

Even her most Shakespeare-phobic students describe Courtney Lehmann as funny, passionate, charismatic and highly effective at bringing the Bard to life.

A world-renowned Shakespeare scholar, Lehmann teaches Shakespeare along with other British literature courses and is the author of numerous books and essays on his works and their film adaptations. She has led numerous visits to the Ashland Shakespeare Festival in Oregon, where her expertise benefits students and alumni alike.

Lehmann also founded and directed the Pacific Humanities Scholars and directed the Powell Scholars Program, which supports high-achieving students with leadership potential.

“Dr. Lehmann stands out as an amazing teacher, mentor and scholar,” said Powell Scholar Lorenzo Spaccarelli ’24. “I enjoyed her brilliant Shakespeare class and discussing the finer merits of the Elizabethan era. She also was a supportive mentor as I strived to meet various challenges outside the classroom. She was the first professor I met when I visited Pacific, and without her impact, I probably wouldn't have gone here. I am very privileged to have been her student.”

Lehmann has received numerous awards and accolades, including the university’s Distinguished Faculty Award in 2016 and the Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Excellence Award in 2021.

For 20 of his 39 years at Pacific, Richard Tenaza took students on the trip of a lifetime: exploring wildlife in east Africa for a month.

His lifelong passion for wildlife research has taken him from jungles to frozen outposts across five continents, including Antarctica, where Tenaza Peak is named in his honor. He holds a PhD in zoology and has conducted extensive studies on birds, primates, mammals and marine life. At Pacific, he guided students in wildlife research and experiential learning, leading safaris and supporting field studies in Africa and Indonesia.

“Dr. Tenaza was pivotal in my life,” said Paula Kornell ’81. “He taught us independence and to be inquisitive. My trip to Kenya with him led me to eventually climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and to trek quite a few mountains around the world.”

Tenaza also has a fascination with Filipino American history and is a champion of Filipino cultural preservation. He was the inaugural advisor of Kilusan Pilipino, the university’s Filipino student organization.

Lynelle Wiens’ students have gone on to perform on the world’s greatest opera stages.

A specialist in vocal science and medicine, Wiens taught studio voice, vocal pedagogy, and Italian, French and German diction classes. She served as program director of Pacific’s voice department and an academic advisor for more than 24 years.

“I vividly remember Dr. Wiens greeting me with such warmth and kindness when I auditioned for the conservatory,” said Irene Roberts ’06. “She had to start from scratch, as I had virtually no formal voice training before attending Pacific. She prioritized the development of my own natural sound, never pushing me to sound like anyone else, and this has been one of the main factors in my success. Without her instilling this principle, I wouldn’t be where I am today—singing on some of the world’s greatest stages.”

Other students of Wiens’ have pursued careers as music educators, music therapists or voice faculty members at major universities.

Upon her retirement in 2020, she received the Order of Pacific, one of the university’s highest honors.

Online registration for Homecoming and Family Weekend is available through Oct. 1. Pricing will increase after online registration closes.