Lincoln University alumna, former trustee wins teaching award

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  • Category: Campus News

LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pa. – A Lincoln University alumna and former trustee has won the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teachers.

Kathleen J. Butler Hayes ’89, a 24-year veteran of the School District of Philadelphia, is a librarian at South Philadelphia High School.


Kathleen J. Butler Hayes ’89 has won the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teachers. (Saquoia Freeman/School District of Philadelphia)

Hayes served on the Lincoln University Board of Trustees from 2008-2014 as an alumni representative. She is a life member of the Alumni Association of Lincoln University, which awarded her the Frank “Tick” Coleman Alumni Achievement Award in 2010. Hayes was honored with the Lincoln University Founder’s Day Award in 2005.

Several of Hayes’s family members are Lincoln graduates including her husband and former trustee, Tracey J. Hunter Hayes ’87, and her children, Tracey ’05, Dr. Jalaal ’11, and Makkah, MSC ’19.

She earned Librarian of the Year from the Association of Philadelphia School Librarians in 2013 and received a Philadelphia City Council Citation as well. In 2018-2019 she was selected to participate in the Mini Regional Leaders Academy for Pennsylvania School Librarians.

Hayes earned a bachelor’s degree in three years from Lincoln University, a Master of Education from Cheyney University in 1991 and a Master of Library Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1992.

The Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation sponsors the annual Lindback Award for Distinguished Teachers, which recognizes 60 outstanding teachers from Philadelphia public schools who demonstrate excellence in promoting learning at the highest levels. The award recipients are chosen based on their activities that improve the intellectual and character development of students. The recipients receive $3,500 and recognition at a spring reception. The Foundation also make grants in support of certain colleges and universities primarily in the Greater Delaware Valley area, including Lincoln University.

Article compiled by Shelley Mix, Office of Communications & Public Relations

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Lincoln University, the nation’s first degree-granting Historically Black College and University (HBCU), educates and empowers students to lead their communities and change the world. Lincoln offers a rigorous liberal arts education to a diverse student body of approximately 2,200 men and women in more than 35 undergraduate and graduate programs.