Sound Off: Who Was Your Mentor?

Hannah Nielsen ’10, women’s lacrosse head coach at the University of Michigan 

I feel fortunate to have been coached by, and to have learned from, Kelly Amonte Hiller, first as a student-athlete at Northwestern, then as her assistant coach and now as a peer. Kelly not only taught her players about on-field strategy and technique but also helped us become fearless leaders. The work ethic, passion, innovation and attention to detail she taught us are all things that I lean on today. I often ask myself, “What would Kelly do?” I am fortunate to have her in my corner, and I am thankful for the lacrosse lessons — and life lessons — that she instilled in me.  

Madeline Baxter ’22, graduate student at the University of Oxford 

Professor Noelle Sullivan not only taught me about the systems that underpin our modern health inequities — she showed me what it looks like to move through life thoughtfully. She embodies intentionality — from making her own laundry detergent to volunteering on her city’s school board. She structured her courses to give us flexibility in how we each learned best. She has shown up for me even beyond my college career, championing my grad school applications and offering advice. She showed me who I’m capable of becoming — someone who is fearless in their beliefs and understands the impact they can have on society.  

Larry Woods ’69 JD, professor of criminal justice at Tennessee State University and chairman at Woods & Woods Attorneys at Law   

At Northwestern’s law school in the 1960s, two professors were true leaders: Jim Thompson [’59 JD, ’79 H, former governor of Illinois] and Jon Waltz. They set high standards while being open to questions about careers. Professor Thompson made the practice of law sound inviting and doable. And Professor Waltz would end almost every class by saying, “When you have a really difficult [or] interesting question about the rules of evidence, call me.” He told us that students from five and 10 years earlier were still calling him. I never had to call, but several times during my law career I thought to myself, “If I don’t find this pretty quickly in the library, I’ll call Jon Waltz. He’ll help me on it.”  

Lynn Ellen Queen ’81, executive coach 

At the end of my linguistics class one day, Professor Rae Moses called me into her office. She asked if I was worried about my grades. I confessed that I was — to the point that I had developed an ulcer. Nodding, she slid two documents across her desk. They were transcripts of seniors (names redacted) for whom she was writing letters of recommendation. One student had straight A’s. The other had mostly A’s, some B’s and a couple C’s. She said, “Which of these people would you rather have dinner with?” With her help, I realized that we decide for ourselves what success looks like. And I was successful. My transcript had mostly A’s, some B’s, a couple C’s and one pass/fail, just for good measure.   

Barbara Weber-Boustani ’85, director, actor, singer and voice actor   

As a theater major, the clouds parted for me the day I sat in Frank Galati’s class on the dramatic interpretation of literature. He told a story about how W.H. Auden wrote his poetry while walking to work every day, and how he would walk back and forth over the same four squares of sidewalk until he had worked out the “knot” in his poem. That image has stayed with me through my own creative struggles, helping me “walk out” the kinks in my writing. I still read literature the way Galati taught us to — by staging it in my head! Recently I’ve drawn on that knowledge while directing theatrical adaptations of literature. Galati [’65, ’67 MA/MS, ’71 PhD] was a hidden treasure.  

Share your mentorship story at letters@northwestern.edu.