Dr. Rosalind Pijeaux Hale ’69, honored as the 2019 Alumnus of the Year during the Homecoming Banquet, accepts her award from Dr. Joseph Labat '59 and XU President Reynold Verret.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

New Orleans LA – Dr. Rosalind Pijeaux Hale ’69, a relentless advocate for education and to her alma mater, was honored as the 2019 Alumnus of the Year at Xavier University of Louisiana.

She was presented the Victor H. Labat Sr. Alumnus of the Year Award during the annual Homecoming Banquet, which drew a sell-out crowd of alumni and friends. During the event, class agents for the special five-year reunion classes (1949, 1954, 1959, 1964, 1969, 1974, 1979, 1984, 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014) presented the University with gifts totaling $358,169.

Other alumni were also recognized during the event: three honored with Distinguished Awards and another six honored with Spirit of Xavier Awards.

Introduced in 2017, The Distinguished Alumni Awards were created to recognize Xavier University alumni who have embraced the Xavier University mission by making significant contributions in their career, service to others, philanthropy, and who have maintained a strong relationship with Xavier. This year’s winners included: Senior Federal Judge Ivan Lemelle ’71, Paula Saizan ’69, and Chantel Shackleford ’90.

Introduced in 2018, The Spirit of Xavier Awards were created to recognize alumni for outstanding service to their alma mater. The six alumni recognized this year were: Tai Scott Ponder ’96, Dr. Otis Gowdy ’95, Demetria Hill Sloan ’95, Tiffany Devereaux ’98, Captain Eugenia Adams ’73, and Monica Smith ’04.

This year’s Alumnus of the Year retired as Professor Emeritus in the Division of Education and Counseling at Xavier 2016 after 46 years in education. She began her career as a middle/high school mathematics and science teacher and served as a staff development specialist in teacher training, instructional technology and school leadership as well as a high school assistant principal and middle school principal before entering higher education. She has taught courses in educational leadership, secondary curriculum, multicultural education and instructional technology and served as chair of departments/divisions of education at three universities. She has obtained funding for grants to support turnaround school leadership and to promote mathematics and science education totaling over five million dollars.

Some of the honors and awards she received while at Xavier include: the Southeast Regional Counselor Award for outstanding service to Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society and to the Alpha Zeta Iota Chapter at Xavier; the Xavier University of Louisiana nola.com/Times Picayune Professor for outstanding performance as a faculty member and dedication to Xavier; recognition by the Benjamin Banneker Association for her dedication to mathematics education, the Dr. Norman C. Francis Faculty Award for Excellence in Service at Xavier, and the Gender Equity Architect Award from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education for her work in  promoting gender equity.

Hale continues to support Xavier having served as the treasurer of the Xavier National Alumni Association and committee chair of the by-laws committee, and as an active member of the New Orleans Alumni Chapter and Give Love Xavier Team Captain for multiple years.  She has also served as an executive in residence in the Office of Alumni Relations, assisted in the chartering of the Xavier University Montgomery Alumni Chapter and has established an endowed scholarship as well as an annual scholarship.

Hale is currently the co-chair of the National Alumni Association’s Sr. Monica Loughlin Endowed Centennial Scholarship. She is a Diamond Life member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. where she has served in various national leadership positions and currently is the treasurer of the Zeta National Educational Foundation.