On March 10, 2025, at midday Eucharist and assembly, Dr. Patricia A. Hayes was presented the 2025 Durstan R McDonald Teaching Award from Seminary of the Southwest. Established upon the retirement of Dean Emeritus the Very Rev. Durstan R. McDonald in 2002, the McDonald Teaching Award is given each year by the Faculty of Seminary of the Southwest in recognition of exceptional teaching in the spirit of the award’s namesake.
Watch the awarding of the the 2025 McDonald Teaching Award here
“It is an honor to celebrate the lifelong commitment of Dr. Patricia Hayes to teaching and education,” said Dr. Scott Bader-Saye, dean and president. “The McDonald award is not only a way to acknowledge the recipient’s achievements but to create time for them to be in conversation with our faculty so that we can learn from them and become better at what we do. I’m so happy to have Dr. Hayes on campus, to recognize her accomplishments, and to learn from her wisdom.”
Read Dr. Hayes’ McDonald Award Citation here
In 1984, Dr. Hayes became the first woman and just second lay person to be named president of St. Edward’s University in Austin. Her leadership led to a period of tremendous success for the 100 year old Catholic liberal arts school. In 1998, she took on senior leadership position at Seton Healthcare Network, now known as Ascension Health,where she pioneered many of the programs still in place that improved services to the uninsured.
A 2006 article in Austin Woman celebrating the end of her tenure at Seton said, “The organizations and projects Hayes has championed read like a public service directory for the Central Texas region: Dell Children’s Medical Center, KLRU, United Way Capital Area, Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, National Commission on Migrant Education, Central Texas Citizens Education Project, Mayor’s Commission on Social Equity. The list goes on and on.”
In receiving the award, Dr. Hayes reflected that the awards namesake, Dean McDonald, was among the first to welcome her to Austin when she arrived 40 years ago, and spoke to the closeness she has felt to the seminary community. “As this award honors me for my commitment to the ministry of teaching in the church, I wish in some ways I could give all of you an award for your ministry of teaching in the church,” said Dr. Hayes. “I think teaching the truth with love is as close to the definition of that as it gets.”
