ATLANTA — The Southern Regional Education Board’s Council on Collegiate Education for Nursing recently named Dee Baldwin, associate dean and director, College of Health and Human Services, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, as the 2011 recipient of the M. Elizabeth Carnegie Award.
Baldwin received the award at the Council’s annual meeting in November in Atlanta. Council President Lynne G. Pearcey praised Baldwin for her accomplishments, which mirror many of the characteristics of the late nursing pioneer — scholar, advocate, mentor and pathfinder.
Through her scholarship, teaching and professional activism, Baldwin exemplifies Carnegie’s quest for excellence and equity in nursing education and practice. She has worked tirelessly to promote workforce diversity, engaging in pioneering work to mentor students from economic or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. For more than a decade Baldwin focused her research and community service on women’s health, with a primary focus on breast health. Recognizing her expertise and advocacy for women’s health, then-Governor Roy Barnes of Georgia appointed her to serve as the executive director of the state’s office of Women’s Health.
Baldwin’s influence in educating future nurses, leaders and change agents has been validated by the many forums in which she has shared her expertise. Students see her activism as a model for their careers in nursing. She has given students invaluable learning experiences by engaging them in her collaboration with public health and nursing leaders at regional and national levels. One of her great strengths is mentoring and fostering collaborative research efforts within the university and community.
Similar to Carnegie, who was appointed by the governor of Florida in 1949 to serve on an SREB task force, Baldwin was elected by her colleagues to serve a two-year term on the Council’s governing board last year.
For more than 50 years, the SREB Council on Collegiate Education for Nursing has brought together leaders in the nursing field to improve the quality of nursing education. In recent years, the Council has focused on curbing the shortage of registered nurses and nurse educators in the 16 SREB member states and across the nation.
For more details about the Council, contact SREB Communications.
SREB, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, advises state education leaders on ways to improve education. SREB was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to help leaders in education and government work cooperatively to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region. SREB has 16 member states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Each is represented by its governor and four gubernatorial appointees.
