EAST SPENCER — Mayor Barbara Mallett is no stranger to awards and recognitions, but even she can be surprised sometimes.

And when United Cornerstone University decided to bestow a doctorate of divinity on her last November, that is exactly what she was — surprised.

And honored, she said.

The degree was presented to Mallett at the Citadel of Faith Christian Fellowship’ during the university’s 19th Founder’s Day Conclave.

Mallett said when they called to let her know, in order to make sure she would attend, she was speechless.

“I thought, ‘me? me?’ because what have I done,” she said.

But she said the board explained that they know her faith has guided her on her journey from when she first started working for the town back in 1980, and they believe the way she has leaned on and used faith to lead her in her governance is worthy of recognition.

Mallett said her daughters help her get all the accoutrements on for the ceremony and when she was fully attired, “I just felt different. Incredibly special.”

Though Mallett says she knows she will be questioned, that critics will say she didn’t do the study or the work for the degree, she feels that the live experience she has lived, and learned from, qualify.

“I have spent 34 years with the town, working and learning,” she said. “That’s study. To have been a part of the tremendous change and growth is study.”

Dr. George Jackson, president of the university, agreed that the life Mallett has lived more than qualifies her.

“What Mayor Mallett has done in her years with East Spencer, you cannot put in a classroom,” said Jackson. Each spring and fall, during the conclaves, the church awards an honorary degree, and Jackson said he could think of no one more deserving when it was time to nominate a candidate to the school’s board last fall.

He credited her thoughtful, careful leadership of the town where he himself has lived for the last 25 years has been nothing less than spectacular.

“She is a practitioner of what we call practical faith,” he said, and she has a clear understanding of when and how to apply it.

“What East Spencer has become during her tenure is entirely due to the planning, the faith and the execution of Mayor Mallett,” said Jackson.

And Mallett said she does plan to run again, because “in this season of my life, I am getting to see some of the fruits of my labor. And I think I can mentor others on the council, who may not always have understood the choices I’ve made, but are now seeing it coming together.”

She continues, even as a great grandmother, to rise early and work into the night, often busy for 12 to 14 hours a day. She’s been asked how she can keep up that level of energy, but she says she has “just never thought about any other way.”