Health Administration Faculty and Alumni Awards
Marilyn B. Tavenner receiving VCU Alumni Star award
Marilyn B. Tavenner, BSN, MHA, is the College of Health Professions’ 2022 VCU Alumni Star award recipient. The honor recognizes graduates in the fields of art, business, education, service, and healthcare who shine a spotlight on problems and craft solutions, says the VCU Office of Alumni Relations that oversees the award.
Tavenner helped implement the Affordable Care Act as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. She also led the Virginia Department of Health and Human Services under then-Gov. Tim Kaine where she worked to boost funding for free clinics, expanded Medicaid eligibility for low-income pregnant women, and oversaw many other initiatives.
Tavenner received the Department of Health Administration’s Alumna of the Year award in 2006 and the Lifetime Service Award in 2015. Tavenner and other Alumni Stars award recipients are being honored at 6 p.m. on Sept. 29 at the Science Museum of Virginia’s Dewey Gottwald Center.
MCV Foundation honors executive director of the VCU Office of Health Equity
Sheryl Garland, MHA, FACHE, received the 2022 Jerome F. Stauss III Award in June in recognition of her decades-long effort to improve the Richmond Community’s access to health care.
Garland is described as the “moral center” of the VCU Health System where she is the chief of health impact and executive director of the VCU Office of Health Equity, the MCV Foundation says. The award was established in honor of the former VCU School of Medicine dean and given to a VCU administrator, faculty member, or staff member who demonstrates “extraordinary service” in furthering the MCV Foundation’s mission.
Garland also received the Department of Health Administration’s Alumna of the Year Award in 2016.
VCU Health Administration Ph.D. Program Director Receives Teaching Excellence Award from AOM and other honors
Laura McClelland, Ph.D., received the Teaching Excellence Award at the Academy of Management’s Health Care Management Division’s annual conference in Seattle this August. The award recognizes the innovative and outstanding teaching of a member of the Health Care Management Division. It’s chosen from a nomination pool that rolls over from the previous year, making this tremendous honor also an extremely competitive one. Dr. McClelland received the award in her first year of being nominated, which stands as a testament to her role as an educator and leader in our field.
“Teaching and mentoring truly bring me joy!” Dr. McClelland says. “As an educator, I begin each academic year with the hope that I can positively impact the lives of our students and alumni community. I am grateful for the recognition that reaffirms my commitment to helping others grow, and I am inspired to find more creative ways to improve the lives of our students, alumni, and the broader community of healthcare professionals through teaching.”
This is the third Excellence in Teaching award Dr. McClelland has received this summer. She also earned the Association for University Programs in Health Administration’s (AUPHA) Excellence in Teaching Award and the VCU Department of Health Administration’s 2022 Dolores Clement Teaching Award.
New VCU health administration faculty member receives AUPHA education award
Paige Powell, Ph.D., MHA, who recently became director of VCU Health Administration’s MHA and MSHA programs, is this year’s winner of the John D. Thompson Prize from the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA). Dr. Powell says she always wanted to be a teacher and enjoys looking for ways to use policy to help others.
The Thompson award honors faculty members for their contributions to the field of health administration education and is named after a health administration professor who set peerless standards for teaching, learning, research, and collegiality.
VCU Health Administration professor Daniel Lee, Ph.D., and department chair Paula Song, Ph.D., are past recipients of the Thompson prize.
VCU Health Administration leader receives nursing fellowship
Stephan Davis, DNP, MHSA, FACHE, FNAP, has been named one of the 2022 fellows for the
American Academy of Nursing. Davis is one of 250 distinguished leaders chosen for their efforts to advance public health, the academy says.
Davis, the executive director of inclusive leadership education for the Department of Health Administration, will be recognized along with other inductees for their contributions to the healthcare field at the academy’s annual Health Policy Conference that’s being held from Oct. 27-29 in Washington, D.C. Earlier this year, Davis was inducted into the National Academies of Practice (NAP) Nursing Academy.
VCU Health Administration and School of Nursing alumnus Kenneth R. White, Ph.D., AGACNP-BC, ACHPN, FACHE, FAAN, is the president of the American Academy of Nursing’s board of directors. An emeriti faculty of VCU Health Administration, White served as director of the MHA program from 2001 to 2008 while holding the inaugural Charles P. Cardwell Jr. Professor of Health Administration.