BETTY WOODARD, 2009 UNCG School of Nursing Distinguished Alumna
Betty Woodard is a demonstrated leader in the scholarship of education, research and practice in nursing. A 1981 graduate of the UNCG School of Nursing baccalaureate program, Betty continued her education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she earned a master of science in nursing (Primary Care & Management and Family Nurse Practitioner) in 1987 and completed a PhD in Nursing Science in 2002 at the University of South Carolina, Columbia. She has served on the faculty at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing and currently serves on the East Carolina School of Nursing faculty as a Clinical Associate Professor.
Never out of touch with clinical practice, Betty’s nursing career began at Moses Cone Memorial Hospital, and her service in nursing research continued at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington. She currently serves WakeMed Health & Hospitals in Raleigh as Director of Nursing Research & Evidence Based Practice.
Elaine Scott, another UNCG alumna and currently assistant professor at East Carolina University and director of the MSN Nursing Leadership Concentration and East Carolina Center for Nursing Leadership attests, “Betty exudes enthusiasm, energy, and the ethos of nursing. She is compassionate and connected with students, patients and colleagues in nursing. She has worked diligently to advance leadership in nursing professionals and students assisting with the Clinical Leadership Institute in Chapel Hill for many years and most recently developing and teaching workshops and continuing education for charge nurses and managers. She is an outstanding mentor and guide for the administrative students at East Carolina and receives outstanding reviews on her performance and contributions to their learning. This is also echoed in her repeated selection as an “Outstanding Educator” while she taught at UNC Chapel Hill.”
William L. Atkinson, PhD, President and CEO of WakeMed says, “Betty is a nurse’s nurse. She is intelligent, caring, focused, polished, articulate, inquisitive, and committed to excellence in hands-on care, teaching and research. She is a talented leader, a wonderful mentor, and a world-class friend.” Bill continues, “As a UNCG graduate myself, I can assure you that she has and always will represent the “best of the best” UNCG has to offer to the world in which we live and work.”
Lelia Moore, BSN Class of 1971 and the 1908 School of Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, says, “I have known Ms. Woodard professionally and personally for the past twenty plus years and have witnessed her commitment to nursing excellence in all the varied roles of her career…I stand in awe of all she brings to our profession.”