Carolina Nursing Alumni Awards

There are four alumni awards and one honorary alumni award to recognize and celebrate our alumni and friends and their outstanding contributions to our School, the field of nursing and our communities. The School of Nursing Alumni Association puts out a call for nominations in the fall and recipients are recognized at a School of Nursing spring event. All awards are not necessarily given annually, and the Alumni Association may elect not to give out an award for any given year if there are no nominations.

Thank you to everyone who submitted a 2025 Alumni Award nomination. The nomination period has closed, and the 2025 award recipients have been selected. View this year’s winners here.

Outstanding Alumni Award

Awarded to a School of Nursing graduate who is known for their outstanding leadership and service to the field of nursing, either through scholarly efforts in research or teaching, promotion of health care or excellence in patient care and practice.

Outstanding Alumni Nurse Innovator

Awarded to a School of Nursing graduate who has introduced new methods, ideas or products to the field of nursing to improve nursing practice, research and/or education, patient experiences and/or patient outcomes.

Outstanding Alumni Service Award

Awarded to a School of Nursing graduate who has demonstrated outstanding voluntary leadership or public service on a local, national or global level.

Outstanding Early Career Alumni Award

Awarded to a School of Nursing graduate with five years or less experience in the nursing field who has exhibited excellence as an emerging nurse leader.

Honorary Alumni Award

Awarded to a professional who possesses distinction in the nursing profession and has demonstrated outstanding support to the School of Nursing. This person is a non-graduate of the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing.

ALUMNI AWARD HISTORY + –

Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award
2022………….. Landon “Landy” Lewis Fox, BSN ‘56*

2023………….. Cynthia “Cindy” Freund, PhD, NP, RN, MSN ’73

Outstanding Alumni Award
2021………….. Brigit Maria Carter, PhD ’09

2022………….. Mary Jo Strauss Gilmer, PhD ’97

2023………….. Alyshia Wood Smith, BSN ‘89

2024………….. Dr. Ethan Collin Cicero, BSN ’14

2025………….. Yolanda M. VanRiel, PhD ’09

Outstanding Alumni Nurse Innovator Award
2022………….. Syvil Summers Burke, BSN ’79

2023………….. Lauren Douglass, BSN ‘18

2024………….. Tonya Rutherford-Hemming, BSN ’93, MSN ’01

2025………….. Louise Fleming, PhD ’16

Outstanding Alumni Service Award
2021………….. Schquthia Fearrington Peacock, BSN ’92, MSN ’99

2022………….. Cheryl Brewer, PhD ‘11

2023………….. Angelo Moore, PhD ‘10

2024………….. Paul Allen Gray Jr., MSN ’73, PhD ’82

2025………….. Betty (Betsy) M. Bradshaw, BSN ’74

Outstanding Early Career Alumni Award
2021………….. Shannen Granier Kane, BSN ’18

2022………….. Madison Elise Morgan, BSN ‘18, DNP ’23

2023………….. Joshua Gill, ABSN ‘19

2025………….. Emily D. Murray, BSN ’21

Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award
(renamed Outstanding Alumni Award in 2021)

1981………….. Amie Modigh, MSN ’66*

1982………….. Barbara Jo Lorek Foley, BSN ’67

1983………….. Margaret Cooper Dykstra, BSN ’71*

1984………….. Audrey Joyce Booth, MSN ’57*

1985………….. Betty Baines Compton, MSN

1986………….. Michael Patrick McGinnis, BSN ’81*

1987………….. Anne Elizabeth Belcher, BSN ’67

1988………….. Faye Dark Pickard, BSN ’59, MSN ’68*

1989………….. Frances Ross, BSN ’59*

1990………….. Jerri Moser Oehler, BSN ’66

1991………….. Opal Shepard Hipps, BSN ’60, MSN ’64

1992………….. Bette Leon Davis, BSN ’55

1993………….. Elizabeth Johnson Burkett, MSN ’75

1994………….. Joan Iannone Galbraith, BSN ’74

1995………….. Carolyn Veronica Billings, MSN ’80

1996………….. The Honorable Gale Adcock, MSN ’87

1997………….. Jon Edward Seskevich, BSN ’87

1998………….. Gwendolyn Hightower Waddell-Schultz, BSN ’70, MSN ’76

1999………….. Anne Hopkins Fishel, BSN ’62, MSN ’65

2000………….. Carolyn Antonides Williams, MS ’65, PhD ’69

2002………….. Ollie Mae Carroll, BSN ’67

2002………….. Jacqueline Lytle Gonzalez, BSN ’79

2003………….. Marye Cornelia Barden, BSN ’75

2003………….. Anne Elizabeth Whittington, BSN ’83

2004………….. Kelly Rice Lisenbee, BSN ’91, MSN ’94*

2005………….. Margaret Ferguson Raynor, BSN ’67

2006………….. Catherine Ingram Fogel, BSN ’63

2007………….. Nancy Lou Nicks Stephenson, BSN ’69

2008………….. Carol Lynn Fowler Durham, MSN ’82

2009………….. Sara Blaylock Flynn, BSN ’55*

2010………….. Anne Adair Dunlap, MA ’73

2011………….. Lieutenant General Patricia Dallas Horoho, BSN ’82

2012………….. Donald Etheridge Bailey Jr., PhD ’02

2013………….. Robert Thomas Dodge, BSN ’91

2013………….. Robin Britt Dail, PhD ’06

2015………….. Katherine Anne Moore, BSN ’78, MSN ’90

2016………….. Constance Newnam Parker, BSN ’65

2017………….. Linda Adams McCauley, BSN ’71

2018………….. Gwendolyn Dorminey Sherwood, MSN ’70

2019………….. Jill Bridgette Hamilton, BSN ’82, MSN ’89, PhD ’01

Alumni Association Presidents Award

2008………….. Leslie L. Davis, BSN ’85, MSN ’89, PhD ’11

2012………….. Anne Aldridge Webb, BA ’94

2012………….. Margaret Magdalene Miller, MSN ’77*

2017………….. Donna Sullivan Havens

2018………….. G. Wayne Long, BSBA ’78*

Carrington Award For Community Service
(renamed Outstanding Alumni Service Award in 2021)

2004………….. Patty Maynard Hill, BSN ’69*

2005………….. Kathryn Schmidt Johnson, MPH ’80

2006………….. Linda Collings Wiandt, MSN ’92

2007………….. Michelle Bowie Brooks, BSN ’83

2008………….. Rebecca Dewees Olson, BSN ’74

2009………….. Cheryl Moseley Conway, BSN ’92

2010………….. Francine Dalton Davis, BSN ’72

2011………….. Jennifer Shay Bland, BSN ’09

2012………….. Carolyn White London, BSN ’56

2013………….. David Brown Oehler, BSN ’96

2016………….. Margaret Sutton Wade, BSN ’63

2017………….. Tracey A. Yahner, BSN ’07

2018………….. G. Rumay Alexander

2019………….. Beverley Haynes Johnson, BSN ’64

Graduate of the Last Decade Award
(renamed Outstanding Early Career Alumni Award in 2021)

2004………….. Sandra Lynn Jarr Reynolds, MSN ’96

2005………….. Cynthia Dawn Lee, BSN ’97, MSN ’01, DNP ’16

2006………….. Susan Jayne Appel, PhD ’02

2007………….. Kristin Nicole Levoy, BSN ’03, MSN ’13

2008………….. Patricia Flannery Pearce, PhD ’04

2009………….. Mona Olivia Bingham, PhD ’02

2010………….. Brandi Hamlin Newman, BSN ’01, MSN ’04

2011………….. Meg Gambrell Zomorodi, BSN ’01, PhD ’08

2012………….. Angelo Dewitt Moore, PhD ’10

2013………….. Leslie L. Davis, BSN ’85, MSN ’89, PhD ’11

2015………….. Audra Noble Rankin, BSN ’05

2016………….. Nora Elizabeth Warshawsky, PhD ’11

2017………….. Gretchen Wallace Dawson, BSN ’06, MSN ’14

2019………….. Cynthia T. Bacon, PhD ’12

Honorary Alumni Award

2004………….. Sandra Kathleen Evans, MBA ’92

2005………….. Helen W. Umphlet*

2006………….. Jane Winningham Smith

2007………….. Anne Campbell Wilson

2008………….. Nancy Scott Fuller

2011………….. Linda Houk Cronenwett

2012………….. Norma L. Hawthorne

2013………….. Debra J. Barksdale

2015………….. Megan Parpart Williams, EDD ’17

2016………….. Ernest J. Grant

2017………….. Valerie Doley Coleman

2018………….. Carol Morde Ross, BA ’64*

2022………….. William “Bill” Edward Self, BSBA ’57

2024………….. Dr. Shielda Rodgers

*Deceased. Awards paused in 2020 due to COVID.

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