Three University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Nursing alumni and a retired faculty member have been named to the Tuskegee University Nursing Hall of Fame.
Charlie Jones Dickson, EdD, RN, FAAN, served on the UAB School of Nursing faculty for nearly three decades. She earned her BSN from Tuskegee and later joined its nursing faculty. She founded the nursing education program at Lawson State Community College and served on the Alabama Board of Nursing for 15 years and was its first African-American president. In 2003 she was inducted in the Alabama Nursing Hall of Fame, and in 2008 she was elected to the Academy of Nursing Education Fellows in the National League for Nursing.
Constance Smith Hendricks, PhD, RN, FAAN, earned her BSN in 1974 and MSN from UAB with a focus in Community Health Nursing. She is the former Charles W. Barkley Endowed Professor at the Auburn University School of Nursing. Previously she was a Professor of Nursing at Tuskegee University and Southern University, in addition to serving as Dean and Professor of the School of Nursing at Hampton University. She was named as a Distinguished Alumna by the UAB School of Nursing in 2007.
Col. Mary Ann Austin, RN, MSN, earned her master’s degree in nursing from UAB in 1979 after earning her bachelor’s degree from Tuskegee. She led the nursing education program at the Central Alabama Montgomery Veterans Health Care System East Campus in Tuskegee, helping coordinate the nursing VALOR (Veterans Affairs Learning Opportunities Residency) Program, an honors program that includes a structured clinical experience for outstanding nursing students, preparing future nurse leaders to serve the Veteran polulation.
Madalyn Brown Rucker, CRNA, earned her bachelors degree in nurse anesthesia from UAB in 1972 after earning her bachelors degree in nursing from Tuskegee University. She retired from the Birmingham VA Medical Center in 1997 with 33 years of service. She was also honored by Tuskegee in 2015 at its 130th Fall Convocation as one of the Eminent Presidential and 1000 Plus Associates for her lifelong contributions to the university.
The Tuskegee University Nursing Hall of Fame recognition for individuals who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishments and made significant contributions to nursing and/or the health care field. The historic institution is home of the first baccalaureate-in-nursing degree program in Alabama which was founded by nursing-education pioneer Lillian Holland Harvey, EdD, during a time of rigid segregation in the South, and brought unprecedented new opportunities for African-American students in Alabama.
