There is no doubt in the minds of anyone who comes across her path that Eloise Hassell is driven to help others. She wears many hats in life and she always gives 110% to anyone she is working with. If I had 10 more pages and 3 days to write, I would not be able to fit all of the valuable advice she has given to me and other students over the course of a single semester.
Attorney Eloise Hassell knew she wanted to be a lawyer at the age of 5 as a result of spending time playing in her grandfather’s law office and growing up hearing the stories of his practice. He, being the only lawyer in a small eastern North Carolina town, was well versed in a variety of issues which allowed for a large amount of exposure to varying areas of law. For her career, Mrs. Hassell was open to working in a variety of areas but ultimately decided on criminal law. She spent as much time as possible getting experience in this area and in the process ended up volunteering and working everywhere from Probation Parole to three different DA offices prior to graduating from law school.
These experiences led her to obtaining a position at the DA’s office in Raleigh, NC and later transitioning to a Public Defender position in Greenville, NC and again later as a Public Defender in Greensboro, NC. This change came from Mrs. Hassell’s strong urge to help others. In speaking about her career as a public defender, it was hard to pin down just one “most rewarding moment”. Mrs. Hassell sees the opportunity to be in the place to help those who need it as a privilege, and she is grateful for the people she has had the joy to work with both in and out of the court system.
Because of this attitude, teaching courses here at UNCG is just as fulfilling when she wears her Lecturer hat. In speaking about one of her courses, MGT 330: The Legal Environment of Business, she says, “we’re a team”. When teaching and leading a course, Mrs. Hassell draws similarities to working as a public defender in that she is “a cheerleader”, she is there to help her students do the best they can in understanding and being able to apply legal necessities that they will use in their lives. She helps them find and focus on their strengths and wants to help all of her students become successful. She teaches in a way that reaches the most learning styles possible and provides every opportunity for her students to not only pass her class, but to excel.
While there are mounds of golden advice to pass along to you from Mrs. Hassell, I will leave you to ponder this simple question that she asked when sitting down to speak with me. “What is success to you?” Only when we figure this out can we start moving towards it.