MU Sinclair School of Nursing

Recognizes Award Recipients

at Annual Banquet

Contact: Pam Roe
S218 School of Nursing
(573) 884-2690

April 16 , 2007

COLUMBIA , Mo. – For more than 100 years, the MU Sinclair School of Nursing has graduated students with nursing expertise and knowledge that has benefited individuals and families across the United States. In honor of all alumni, the school hosted its 17th Annual School of Nursing Banquet and Awards Ceremony.

This event was held to recognize those individuals who have elevated the reputation, research, teaching and service at the University's school of nursing. Students, faculty, staff and alumni of the school were honored on April 13 at the Holiday Inn Executive Center in Columbia, Mo. in front of the crowd of more than 300.

The school's highest honor – Distinguished Friend of the School – was awarded to James Ross, CEO of the University of Missouri Health Care. Ross was honored for his appreciation of the critical role nurses play in a hospital setting and in the health-care profession.

When he joined the system's team, he highly endorsed the School's accelerated BSN program by funding an expansion. In addition, UMHC provides a majority of the hands-on clinical settings for undergraduate nursing students.

Alumni awards bestowed by the Nursing Alumni Organization included: Donna Otto , BSN '72, MS(N) '81 , of Columbia, Mo., Citation of Merit recipient. During a career that has spanned nearly three decades, she has influenced hospital policy, inspired hundreds of nursing students and motivated nursing alumni. Otto understands how to unite individuals to accomplish not only their own personal objectives, but the goals that strengthen the School and nursing profession;

Edith Finke, BSN '72 , Alumnae of the Year recipient, who took to heart the commitment necessary to be a school nurse. Finke values and appreciates the sacred relationship she has with her students in the Shelby County School District where she works. She has demonstrated that a nurse can indeed be a powerful influence on an entire community;

Marti Cowherd, MS(N) ' 02, Alumnae Achievement Award recipient, for her tireless efforts to care for people in rural Missouri who have limited access to health-care providers. Cowherd owns the Family Practice of Ray County, one of the few nurse practitioner owned clinics in the state;

Susan Asher, BSN ' 79, Humanitarian of the Year award recipient, for her work in protecting the state's children. Asher is the coordinator of University Hospital's Perinatal-Pediatric Outreach Education Program and the vice chair of Safe Kids Columbia;

Priscilla (LeMone) Koeplin, Honorary Alumnae award recipient, for tirelessly giving of herself to raise the School's level of excellence. As a former faculty member and director of the School's undergraduate program, she provided leadership in curriculum development. Koeplin also brought national and international attention to the School through her scholarly publications and books. She wrote Medical-Surgical Nursing: Critical Thinking in Critical Care (4th edition) and Fundamentals of Nursing: The Art and Science of Nursing (6th edition).

Other awards handed out included: the Staff Award for Excellence to Patti Wright; Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching to Louise Miller; Faculty Award for Excellence in Research to Patti Schnitzer; Faculty Award for Excellence in Service to Deidre Wipke-Tevis; Betty Crim Faculty Enhancement Award to Denice Mendenhall; Interdisciplinary Faculty Award for Excellence to John Alspaugh, Professor Emeritus in the MU College of Education, and Ed Morris, Project Coordinator in the MU College of Education.

Students honored for excellence included: Erin Clickner, Dawn Rupp, Keira Story, Elyssa Bumgarner, Megan Rowland, Rebecca Pratte, Tammy Rood and Amy Vogelsmeier.

“This annual banquet gives us a chance to honor those who have gone the extra mile and in the process elevated the bar of excellence in the field of nursing,” said Dean Rose Porter.

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