Ryan Diehl, son of Shirley and the late Richard Diehl of Iola, was recently awarded the 2022 National Collegiate Honors Council Ron Brandolini Award for Excellence.
The award recognizes a two-year college honors director or faculty member for their contributions to the honors community.
Diehl, a 2000 Iola High School graduate, has been affiliated with the Hutchinson Community College Honors Program since 2000 and became its coordinator in 2011. Diehl works with honors faculty and students to expand program experiences both in and outside the classroom. He has mentored students who have gone on to be accepted into selective program and win state and national scholarships.
Diehl is also co-founder of the Kansas Honors Council and has helped organize the Kansas Honors Connections Conference for many years. Diehl serves as president of the Great Plat Plains Honors Council which includes honors programs in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas and has served on National Collegiate Honors Council committees.
In 2020, Diehl completed his Ph.D. through University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Educational Administration program where his dissertation examined how honors programs at two-year institutions can provide a pathway to success for first-generation college students.
Diehl was named Educator of the Year in both 2011 and 2012 at Hutchinson Community College, where he is a professor of English and political science.
