 She has been a guest lecturer at the University of South Florida, Staten Island College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Meredith College, and Duke University.Winner of the New Jersey Author’s Award and two fellowships from the New Jersey Council on the Arts, Hawes helped found the nation's only MFA Program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College, and currently teaches on the faculty there.Her appearances as guest author, lecturer, and teacher have included sessions for the American Library Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, Associated Writing Programs, and the U.S. Department of Education.