Ellen Frei Gruber Award recipient: 2026

The Ellen Frei Gruber Award is presented to an individual who has given outstanding service to his/her alma mater and exemplified continued commitment and support of the mission of Alvernia University. Most importantly, this individual reflects the values of service, humility, peacemaking, contemplation and collegiality. The following Alvernia alumna received the award in 2025. All biographical information current at the time of the award.
 

Theresa M. Adams, Ph.D ’12

Dr. Theresa Adams has spent more than five decades in nursing, education, and community service. Her career began at Saint Joseph Hospital, where she worked as a staff nurse and certified childbirth educator before teaching at its School of Nursing. She later served as a certified school nurse in the Exeter Township and Wilson school districts, including as head nurse at Wilson.

At Alvernia University, Theresa became a tenured associate professor of nursing. She received the Holleran Center’s Faculty Award for Exemplary Service Learning in 2011 and the Pennsylvania League for Nursing’s Nurse Educator of the Year Award in 2016. That year, Alvernia named her Professor Emerita. Theresa has published nursing research, contributed to textbooks, and presented at conferences. She continues to help educate medical students as a standardized patient and instructor at Drexel University College of Medicine.

Theresa earned nursing degrees from Saint Joseph Hospital School of Nursing, Penn State, and Villanova University before completing her doctorate at Alvernia. She remains active in professional nursing organizations and serves as archivist for Alvernia’s Upsilon Zeta Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau.

Her service has taken many forms. Theresa sewed hundreds of comfort pillows for surgical patients and more than 7,000 cloth masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also volunteered to administer thousands of vaccinations, earning recognition as a 2021 Red Cross Hero. More recently, she led an effort to commemorate the women who served Reading’s Civil War military hospital. A longtime member of Reformation Evangelical Lutheran Church, Theresa serves on its Scholarship Committee and crochets prayer scarves for others.