2010 Alumni Awards
NAA award winners (L-R) Charlie Jeffrey (on behalf of his late wife, Meg Jeffrey 81Ox 83N), Kay Kittrell Chitty 65N 68MN, Nell Hodgson Watt, and Sharon Quinn 05N with Dean Linda McCauley.
The Nurses' Alumni Association (NAA) honored three nurses and a longtime nursing advocate during Homecoming Weekend last September.
Distinguished Nursing Achievement Award
A nurse and nursing educator for more than 40 years, Kay Kittrell Chitty 65N 68MN directed the University of Tennessee (UT) School of Nursing at Chattanooga from 1988 to 1993. Upon her retirement, Memorial Hospital established the Kay Kittrell Chitty Professorship in Nursing at UT to honor her service as hospital board chair. Chitty is co-author of the best-selling textbook, Professional Nursing: Concepts and Challenges, now in its sixth edition. She currently serves on the adjunct nursing faculty at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Distinguished Nursing Achievement Award
Mary Elizabeth (Meg) Jeffrey 81Ox 83N was honored posthumously as a tireless and enthusiastic champion and mentor for transplant patients. She served in the transplant and donation programs at Piedmont Hospital, Lifeline of Georgia, and Emory Healthcare, where she was outreach coordinator for the Emory Transplant Center. She served one term as an NAA board member and was a member of Sigma Theta Tau International. Jeffrey died unexpectedly last May.
Award of Honor
As a student, Sharon Quinn 05N fell in love with the Family Farm Worker Health Program, which provides nursing care to the migrant workers who harvest crops in and around Moultrie, Georgia. Today, Quinn uses her vacation time to return to Moultrie each summer. She also helps raise funds to support the program’s operations. That’s in addition to her day job as project manager for computerized physician order entry with Emory Healthcare.
Honorary Alumni Award
Nell Hodgson Watt has never been shy about her love for the School of Nursing or her aunt, Nell Hodgson Woodruff, the school’s namesake. For more than 50 years, Watt (also known as “Little Nell”) has been an advocate for nursing education at Emory. She and her late aunt were among the original members of the Nursing Associates, founded in 1959 to support nursing education. Watt continues to inspire nursing students through her speeches at nursing school events each year.
