Sherrill Hayes, left, accepts the Patriot Employer Award from retired U.S. Army Colonel Martin Rosen.

The daughter of a World War II veteran who served in the 82nd Airborne and parachuted into Normandy on D-Day, Sherrill Hayes has always done her part to support active-duty personnel, making allowances for her students who are National Guard reservists to fulfill their part-time commitments.

“I’ve always told them, ‘It’s your obligation, and we will help you meet it,’ ” says Hayes, professor and chair of the Miller School of Medicine’s Department of Physical Therapy.

Such an attitude is what helped Hayes win the Patriot Employer Award, an honor that recognizes employers—in this case, an individual—who “practice leadership and personnel policies that support employee participation in the Guard and Reserve.”

Emily Blood, who served in the Air National Guard while she was a UM physical therapy student, nominated Hayes for the honor, which is given by the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense.

In a June 28 ceremony held during her departmental faculty meeting, Hayes accepted the award from retired U.S. Army Colonel and University of Miami alumnus Martin Rosen, acknowledging that her philosophy of supporting the men and women of America’s armed services is characteristic of her entire department.

Hayes recalled one incident of about two years ago, when she helped Miller School physical therapy graduate Michael Krok throw a UM tailgate party for his unit based at the 47th Combat Support Hospital in Mosul, Iraq.

“We put together a huge care box—UM T-shirts, a UM banner, a portable barbeque grill, plates, and napkins—and shipped it to him,” Hayes says.

Shortly after Krok’s tailgate party from afar, Hayes received the U.S. flag that had flown over the hospital in Mosul. “Their way of honoring our department,” she says. “Standing up for our soldiers is something I’ll always continue to do.”