Hendricks honored with SREB鈥檚 Workforce Diversity in Nursing Award

November 18, 2019

Beth Day or Joan Lord, Southern Regional Education Board
Michael Tullier, APR, 精东AV Office of Communications, Public Relations and Marketing

Dr. Constance Smith Hendricks, RN, FAAN, dean of 精东AV鈥檚 School of Nursing and Allied Health, was awarded the Mary Elizabeth Carnegie Award at the Southern Regional Education Board鈥檚 Council on Collegiate Education for Nursing annual meeting in November in Atlanta.

SREB鈥檚 Mary Elizabeth Carnegie Award is awarded by the council to a nurse educator who best exemplifies Carnegie鈥檚 quest for excellence in nursing education. The honor is a regional award in recognition of Dr. M. Elizabeth Carnegie, who was a trailblazer, pathfinder, scholar and advocate for workforce diversity in nursing education and practice.

In her acceptance speech, Hendricks spoke of her relationship with the late Carnegie 鈥� noting that Carnegie was powerful and influential in her approach. 

Hendricks also thanked SREB, saying, 鈥淚t is because of this organization that the schools of nursing in this region have progressed and have moved the trajectory of nursing and nursing scholarship because it was in this organization that deans and directors came together to galvanize and synergize their strengths and learn how to develop their programs and their faculty.鈥�

SREB was 鈥渢he place where southern regional deans actually demonstrated equity, diversity and inclusion,鈥� Hendricks said. 鈥淎nd yes, they did it with civility, even before we taught the word civility.鈥�

A Selma, Alabama, native, Hendricks has held leadership positions in nursing education at several institutions, including Concordia College, Hampton University and Kentucky State University, where she facilitated the implementation of the university鈥檚 first doctoral level program, doctorate in nursing practice, with a focus in gerontology.

Hendricks also established collaborations between the schools of nursing at Auburn University and 精东AV, and launched the first doctoral nursing program at Southern University. 

The SREB Council on Collegiate Education for Nursing helps strengthen schools of nursing at colleges and universities to reduce the critical shortage of nurse educators needed to train the nation鈥檚 registered nurses.

A nonprofit, nonpartisan interstate compact, SREB was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislators who recognized the link between education and economic vitality. SREB states are Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. For more information, visit . 

漏 2019, 精东AV