Wayne College Announces 2011 Distinguished Alumni Recipient

The University of Akron Wayne College Alumni Association is proud to recognize Susan Mendenhall as its 2011 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient.  The award will be presented at the Wayne College academic and graduate recognition ceremony on May 6. 

Mendenhall has been employed at Wooster City Schools since 1997, where she is a consulting teacher working with gifted students.  She began her career at the Wayne-Holmes Juvenile Attention Center, where she found that she liked working with youth and decided to pursue a teaching degree. She has been a teacher for 25 years, having taught at Southeast Local Schools and Northwestern Local Schools prior to accepting a position in the Wooster district.  Over the course of her career, Mendenhall has taught first grade, third grade, fourth grade and special education classes.

Mendenhall earned her associate degree in criminal justice from Wayne College in 1976.  She returned to Wayne in 1978 to begin taking teaching courses and then transferred to The University of Akron where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education in 1978.  Mendenhall continued her studies and earned a master’s degree from Ashland University in 1996.  Since then, Mendenhall’s two sons have attended Wayne College for post-secondary classes, allowing them to get a head start on college, and Mendenhall has continued taking classes at Wayne, including real estate courses and a graduate reading course.

“Wayne was just what I needed when I needed it,” says Mendenhall.  “I feel it is as important to today’s students as it was 35 years ago.”             

Within the community, Mendenhall is Vice Chair of the Wayne College Alumni Association, has taught at the Kids on Campus summer enrichment camp and is a Bible study leader at her church. 

John Lorson, a Wayne College alumnus and Coordinator of the College’s Holmes County Higher Education Center, has known Mendenhall for a number of years through his involvement with the Wayne College Alumni Association and says she is an excellent choice for the Distinguished Alumni Award.

“Susan is always willing to step up and represent Wayne College,” says Lorson.  “She truly believes in Wayne and knows what a difference a campus like this can make in a community and the lives of its citizens; and she never hesitates to pass that message along!” 

Mendenhall lives in Wooster where she enjoys reading, gardening and researching family genealogy.