Wendy Hanna-Rose awarded with inaugural Karin E. Foley Women’s Leadership Award
Wendy Hanna-Rose, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the Penn State Eberly College of Science, received the inaugural Karin E. Foley Women’s Leadership Award at the Women in Science Celebration held in March. This award was created by the Eberly College of Science to pay tribute to Foley’s leadership from her time as associate dean for research and administration from 2000 to 2013.
Hanna-Rose received this award for demonstrating many years of leadership and service at Penn State and in the Eberly College of Science. She was a former undergraduate program head and department head, one of the originators of the model that became the Evidence-Based Teaching Academy, and an advocate for women in leadership. The Evidence-Based Teaching Academy is now a part of the Cada R. and Susan Wynn Grove Center for Excellence in Science Education, whose mission is to provide faculty and students with a collaborative educational network that promotes excellence in science and teaching.
Her advocacy is demonstrated through her development of the Changing the Future leadership training program for women at Penn State, which is designed to empower participants to create a better future for themselves, their colleagues, students, and the University. One hundred and thirty-five women across 10 colleges and six campuses have benefitted from this program.
“In addition to seeing Wendy do all these amazing things inside her department, I think the way many of us know Wendy is through her Changing the Future initiative,” said Elizabeth McGraw, head of the Department of Biology. “When we think about the magnitude of Wendy’s effect across the University, it is not just those 135 women, it’s all the units that those women have chosen to step up into leadership roles in and all the other individuals those women have gone on to mentor.”
During Foley’s 13 years as associate dean for research and administration, she was an advocate for supporting staff and faculty, as well as dedicated to propelling the college forward through strategic planning. She led the research enterprise, oversaw renovation plans, and was active in the creation of the marketing office in the college, now known as the Office of Communications.
To recognize the dedication to women’s success that Foley and Hanna-Rose have had, the college held this celebration and award recognition during Women’s History Month, an annual celebration that Foley used to champion during her tenure.
The gathering honored the legacies and accomplishments of the Eberly College of Science’s women faculty and those who paved the way for women today, like Christine Ayoub.
“I get to hear stories about women and faculty, like Dr. Christine Ayoub, who made and are making a difference to our students and to each other,” said Mary Beth Williams, acting dean of the Eberly College of Science.
Ayoub earned her doctoral degree in mathematics from Yale University as the only woman in her class, was among the first women to be a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and was one of five women faculty in the Department of Mathematics when she joined Penn State in 1952. Ayoub taught and supervised doctoral students until her retirement in 1984. Forty years later, in 2024, she died at the age of 102.
“Karin Foley is an example of one of these women,” Williams added. “Karin inspired so many of us and did so much work behind the scenes for years as associate dean, which was often unnoticed. I want to acknowledge the work Karin did: I saw it, Karin, and you lead the way for me too.”
