DR. LINDA PEHL |
PRESIDENT’S LEADERSHIP CIRCLE
For 39 years, nursing students at UMHB have known Dr. Linda Hood Pehl as a professor and dean who taught them the skills they needed to be exemplary nursing professionals. What most of them have not known is that Dr. Pehl has also been a steadfast supporter of scholarships for students. “I learned to give at an early age,” Linda recalls. “My dad died suddenly of a heart attack when he was 42 years old, and my mother was left with three children to support. My brother and I worked part-time jobs as teenagers, and we were expected to give some of our earnings for household expenses, some to the church, and some to our savings accounts for college.” After graduating from high school, Linda earned an associate’s degree from Temple College, then completed the Scott & White Hospital School of Nursing diploma program. She worked as a nurse for 13 years, then enrolled in the RN to BSN program offered at UMHB and was in that program’s second graduating class in 1973. She accepted a job teaching at Mary Hardin-Baylor the next year and immediately started giving toward the goal of an endowed nursing scholarship in her mother’s name, with the request that first priority be given to applicants who were single mothers. She has continued to give toward that scholarship through the years, as well as many other projects at the university. “Over the years, I’ve felt it was important to also give toward general scholarships and the construction of new facilities such as the Mayborn Campus Center and the Baugh Center for the Visual Arts,” she said. “My first love has always been nursing, so when I learned that my gift could help meet the challenge grants for the new Isabelle Rutherford Meyer Nursing Education Center, I was excited to get on board and support the project.” “I believe strongly in Christian education,” Linda said. “I know that there are many students who come to UMHB for reasons other than because we offer a Christian approach to education. But as it says in the Bible, you plant the seed and then see what happens. It may be a long way down the road, but eventually those students realize the importance of our Christian teachings. Gifts to scholarships make it possible for students to have this experience, so I consider giving to be a part of my Christian walk.”