Southeastern's Donnie Booth named Nursing School Administrator of the Year
Contact: Christina Chapple
2/2/07
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SOUTHEASTERN "NIGHTINGALE AWARD" WINNERS -- Two members of Southeastern Louisiana University's College of Nursing and Health Sciences were honored with "Nightingale" awards at the Jan. 20 awards gala of the Louisiana State Nurses Association Foundation. Dean Donnie Booth of Hammond, right, was named Nursing School Administrator of the Year, while School of Nursing instructor Marie Billings of Springfield, left, received the Volunteer of the Year award as a member of the LSNA Continuing Education Committee. She is also continuing education coordinator for the Southeastern School of Nursing.
HAMMOND – Donnie Booth, dean of Southeastern Louisiana University’s School of Nursing and Health Sciences, has been named Nursing School Administrator of the Year by the Louisiana State Nurses Association Foundation.
The honor was announced at the association’s “Nightingale Awards” gala Jan. 20 in Baton Rouge. The Nightingale Awards are the association’s highest recognition for quality service, commitment and excellence among Louisiana registered nurses.
Southeastern School of Nursing instructor Marie Billings was also recognized at the gala as a member of the LSNA Continuing Education Committee. The 10-member committee received the Nightingale “Volunteer of the Year” award for “commitment to lifelong learning for the registered nurses in Louisiana,” LSNA said.
In nominating Booth for the award, her colleagues cited her abilities as an accessible, supportive, multi-task administrator. Under Booth’s leadership, Southeastern’s School of Nursing has twice been cited with the Nightingale Award for Nursing Program of the Year, has been recognized as a Center of Excellence at Southeastern and within the University of Louisiana System, and has been successfully merged with the departments of Kinesiology and Health Studies and Communication Sciences and Disorders to become the new College of Nursing and Health Sciences.
Booth was also described as a role model for faculty, students and alumni because of her tireless involvement in professional issues such as supply and demand of nursing personnel, registered nurse licensure, and nursing education.
A member of the Southeastern faculty since 1973, Booth is a 1969 Southeastern graduate. She received her master of public health degree from Tulane University and doctoral degree from the University of Southern Mississippi. She was inducted into the LSNA “Nightingale Hall of Fame” in 2004, was named Woman of the Year by New Orleans CityBusiness in 2002, and a “Great 100 Nurse” in Louisiana by the Great 100 Nurses Foundation in 2001. She also was recognized for distinguished service by the Louisiana Council of Administrators in Nursing Education, and is a recipient of Southeastern’s President’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service.
Booth is chair of the Louisiana Nursing Supply and Demand Commission, which is working to address critical nursing shortages through improving education, recruitment and retention. She also is a member of the Louisiana Health Works Commission and has worked closely with the Louisiana Technical College Practical Nursing Program to create a seamless transition from all aspects of allied health care to registered nursing.
Booth has served on numerous committees, councils and task forces, including the state Region IX Pandemic Flu Planning Committee and Region IX Health Consortium, and the Louisiana State Board of Nursing Taskforce on Nursing Articulation, which developed the Louisiana Nursing Education Articulation Model.
At Southeastern, she is president of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. She is also a member of Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society and has been active in the Louisiana State Nurses Association, the American Nurses’ Association, the Southeast Louisiana Area Health Education Center, and the Tangipahoa District Nurses Association.
SOUTHEASTERN "NIGHTINGALE AWARD" WINNERS -- Two members of Southeastern Louisiana University's College of Nursing and Health Sciences were honored with "Nightingale" awards at the Jan. 20 awards gala of the Louisiana State Nurses Association Foundation. Dean Donnie Booth of Hammond, right, was named Nursing School Administrator of the Year, while School of Nursing instructor Marie Billings of Springfield, left, received the Volunteer of the Year award as a member of the LSNA Continuing Education Committee. She is also continuing education coordinator for the Southeastern School of Nursing.
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