UNMC will honor three individuals for their dedication and support to UNMC and the health professions during Friday’s commencement ceremony in Omaha.
The May 13 ceremony begins at 1:30 p.m. at the Qwest Center Exhibition Hall C for more than 600 students in the College of Medicine, College of Pharmacy, College of Nursing Omaha division, School of Allied Health Professions and the Graduate College.
UNMC will award its Distinguished Service Award to Kenneth Morrison of Hastings, Neb., for his outstanding support of UNMC, and an Honorary Doctor of Science degree to Linda R. Cronenwett, Ph.D., the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in recognition of her accomplishments in improving the health of people through excellence in nursing.
The J.G. (Jack) Elliott Award, given annually to a Nebraska resident who has made significant contributions to medicine and health programs for the State of Nebraska and UNMC, will be bestowed upon Lucinda A. Bradley of North Platte, Neb., for improving health care services for Nebraskans and supporting the education of students in the health professions.
Chancellor’s Distinguished Service Award
Kenneth Morrison, managing partner of Morrison Enterprises, has a long and varied history of philanthropy for the University of Nebraska, where his donations enhance areas of excellence in academia and athletics. His support for the UNMC College of Dentistry including funding for a modernized student study room with numerous new computers, and his recent leadership gift anchored renovation of the North Clinic, including state-of-the-art Simulation Clinic enhancements.
In 1947, the Roxbury, Kan., native moved to Hastings with his late wife, Marjorie. Their original business was dehydrated alfalfa processing, but they soon began grain processing and merchandising and large-scale farming (including extensive livestock operations, production of corn, soybeans, rice, cotton, fishmeal, frozen food processing, and shrimp farming). They have developed extensive agriculture operations in the United States, Canada, Central and South America, and Malaysia.
An inductee in the Nebraska Business Hall of Fame and the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame, Morrison has received numerous business and civic honors and awards. He is a member of several honor clubs at the University of Nebraska Foundation, including the President’s Club with Distinction and the Chancellor’s Club for all four of the university’s campuses (UNMC, UNL, Omaha and Kearney) and the Dental College Dean’s Club. He has served as a trustee of the University of Nebraska Foundation since 1974.
Honorary Doctor of Science
Linda Cronenwett, Ph.D., professor and dean of the School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, serves as co-chair of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Identifying and Preventing Medication Errors, a member of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Transforming Care at the Bedside National Advisory Committee, a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and is on the Steering Committee, Program on Health Outcomes, UNC-Chapel Hill. She is a member of the Program Committee and chairwoman of the Summer Seminar Subcommittee of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.
Dr. Cronenwett held faculty positions at Stanford University and the University of Michigan, followed by 14 years as a nurse researcher and administrator at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, N.H. She served the scientific community as a member of the Nursing Research Study Section and subsequently as member of the National Advisory Council for Nursing Research at the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Cronenwett’s special interest is the interface between research and the continuous improvement of practice. During her tenure at DHMC, the institution received the international Research Dissemination Award from Sigma Theta Tau (the nursing honor society) in recognition of 10 years of successful regional conferences for nurse clinicians focused on the dissemination of meta-analyses and other summaries of evidence for practice.
J.G. Elliott Award
Cindy Bradley has served as president and chief executive officer of Great Plains Regional Medical Center in North Platte for 15 years. Before coming to North Platte in 1986, the Oklahoma native worked in a number of hospitals in Oklahoma, North Carolina, Arizona and Missouri. Under her leadership at Great Plains, the hospital has expanded into a regional medical center with almost 70 physicians. During her tenure, the hospital has had three major expansions, including a cardiac cath lab and a comprehensive cancer center.
Bradley serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the North Platte Development Corporation. She also has served as chairman of the board of the North Platte Chamber of Commerce and the Nebraska Association of Hospitals and Health Systems.
The J.G. Elliott Award is given annually in memory of Elliott, a former Scottsbluff resident who served on the University of Nebraska Board of Regents for 20 years until his death in 1974.