The Stockton Women’s Leadership Council (SWLC), a Stockton University Foundation initiative dedicated to empowering and mentoring women on campus, hosted its second annual Excellence in Mentoring Awards on Tuesday, March 25.
Prior to the awards, Donna Albano, chair of the SWLC, gave a heartwarming tribute to Johanna Johnson, who served as the previous chair of the Stockton Foundation and founded the SWLC in 2018. In helping establish the council, Johnson’s impact on campus includes supporting more than 80 Stockton students and alumnae through one-on-one guidance and networking, as well as awarding more than $20,000 in scholarships to deserving students based on academic excellence and financial need.
“Her foresight and dedication have created a lasting legacy, demonstrating the powerful impact that targeted support and resources can have on empowering women and enhancing contributions to both philanthropic and professional endeavors. Johanna’s work is a shining example of how one person’s vision and commitment can transform a community and inspire countless others,” Albano said.
Amid a standing ovation, Johnson stood up and proudly declared, “It takes a village.”
In her acceptance speech for the Community Leadership Award, Donna Ward credited the community of support she has cultivated within both the council and Hard Rock Hotel & Casino’s Women in Leadership program, of which she is the leader, in addition to her role as vice president of sales.
“They are strong mentors and truly are the wind beneath my wings,” Ward said. “I encourage all of you to enhance our community through mentorship. Remember, it doesn’t have to be a formalized program — be like Donna A., who dedicates her life to developing young adults, or like Gary Musich, who sees professional talent and pushes them to excellence.”
Allyson Thomas ’12, who received the Mentoring Champion Award for her continued mentorship throughout her decade-long career at Monmouth Medical Center and Shore Area OB/GYN, said her mentoring journey stems from the lessons she learned as a Stockton Nursing student and softball player.
“(Stockton) is where I first started to understand the value of mentorship and the importance of strong female leadership. I was fortunate to have had incredible women guiding me during these years, shaping not only my education, but my sense of purpose,” Thomas said. “And while Stockton gave me so much academically, it also gave me lessons on the field. Being on that team showed me the importance of collaboration, trust and lifting each other up, all of which became the foundation for the leader I became.”
For this year’s SWLC Impact Mentor Award winner, Susan Adelizzi-Schmidt (MBA ’05, Ed.D. ’23), mentorship means acknowledging and appreciating the full-circle moments.
Adelizzi-Schmidt, a marketing professional who founded Suasion Communications Group 18 years ago and has been a mentor within SWLC since its inception in 2018, discussed how her lifelong mentee, her daughter who presented her with her award, has recently been teaching her valuable lessons.
“There’s a kind of reverse mentoring that every leader and mentor will experience, where the mentee becomes the mentor, as this is the truest value of the relationship,” Adelizzi-Schmidt said. “For example, my daughter Lauren picked up surfing a few years ago. After seeing her doing it, I caught the surfing bug too. Even though I still can’t surf, as well as she does anyway, the real value of the experience was having my lifelong mentee, my daughter, teach and coach me. She also pulled back and let me fall, allowing me to learn on my own and really continue to see my own potential.
“Just as my mentors had helped me to become a leader,” Adelizzi-Schmidt continued, “I was seeing my relationship with my daughter really go full circle and do the same thing.”
Jalea Wood, a Health Sciences major due to graduate this year, was shocked to receive the SWLC Student Leadership Award. She described being a student mentee within the council, under the tutelage of Pamela Garofolo, as an “amazing opportunity.”
“The council and the experiences it provides have far exceeded my expectations, built my character and skills, and I’m so happy to say that I’m a part of something so amazing,” Wood said. “No matter the context or the questions, Pam’s guidance has been very invaluable, and even with this being my last semester, I know that I have a hero here in SWLC, and I’m so grateful for her.”
In addition to celebrating the work of powerful women leaders in the community and within the SWLC, the council presented the SWLC Legacy Award to the late Gail Hirsch Rosenthal.
Before her passing in 2023, Rosenthal served as the director of the Sara & Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center at Stockton for three decades, where she inspired students to deeply engage with the horrors of the past to ensure that it will never be repeated.
Irvin Moreno-Rodriguez, the current director of the HRC and mentor of Rosenthal’s, accepted the award on her behalf and challenged attendees to see Rosenthal as a “guiding star” as he does.
“Honor Gail’s memory by embracing kindness,” Moreno-Rodriguez said. “A genuine smile, a word of encouragement, a shared meal — these seemingly small gestures can transform lives. Gail would teach every student that walked into the Holocaust Resource Center that one person, with unwavering dedication and heart, can indeed make a world of difference.”
The SWLC offers a platform for professionals to build relationships, discuss issues related to women, engage in mentorship opportunities and explore ways that relevant program events and leadership development opportunities can be supported by enhanced philanthropy.
To learn more about SWLC, visit stockton.edu/swlc.
Photo Credit: Susan Allen/Stockton University)
