COLUMBUS, Miss.- Dr. Tammie McCoy, highly regarded faculty member and retired dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Mississippi University for Women, was awarded the Medal of Excellence during the university’s commencement exercise Friday, July 29 in Rent Auditorium, Whitfield Hall.
“We are presenting Dr. McCoy with this medal in recognition of her service to this campus related to the pandemic. She served on the IHL Safe Start Taskforce and The W’s Campus Renewal Taskforce, serving as the liaison between the university and the State Department of Health. In addition to her workload as Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences, she served as our contact tracer and helped us to set protocols for campus operations. She is amazing!” said W President Nora Miller.
Awarded since 1979, the Medal of Excellence is the university’s highest non-degree honor. The purpose of The W’s Medal of Excellence is to honor individuals who have exemplified the highest ideals of personal achievement in academic, personal and professional endeavors or through advocacy for the university.
McCoy retired as dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences earlier this year after 23 years of service to the university. She was named chair of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing department in 2007 and later named dean of the college in 2018.
She played a pivotal role in the university’s response to COVID-19 and has been a longtime champion for student nurses to be caring above all.
McCoy said, “I am truly humbled to receive this recognition. As a nurse, I have always done what is needed to improve the health outcomes of my patients. In this case, my W family members were my patients and I strived to do what was needed to keep them healthy. Our campus health center staff and nurse practitioners worked countless hours to assess, test and care for our W family. This process also took the assistance of many individuals across campus. The W is certainly blessed to have such dedicated individuals willing to do whatever was needed to support the health of our faculty, staff and students. It was my pleasure to work with each one!”
In her role as chair of the BSN Program, McCoy received the Kossen Faculty Excellence Award in 2014 and The W’s Faculty Member of the Year Award in 2016. Additionally, McCoy was named one of the top 20 medical and nursing professors in Mississippi by Online Schools Mississippi in 2013. She was honored as Mississippi’s Community Service Nurse of the Year for her statewide projects related to breast cancer awareness outreach and community literacy campaigns through the Mississippi Nurse’s Association.
She also received The W Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award, an award presented to alumni and friends of the university who have achieved professional distinction and made significant community service contributions at the local, national and/or international level, bringing distinction and honor to the university.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 29, 2022
Contact: Tyler Wheat
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