Marie Chisholm-Burns, PharmD, MPH, MBA, FCCP, FASHP, FAST, dean and professor in the College of Pharmacy, which has distance campuses in Nashville and Knoxville, received the 2017 Giving Back Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity and inclusion publication in higher education. The Giving Back Award honors college and university administrators who go above and beyond their everyday leadership duties and “give back” to their campuses and communities. Dean Chisholm-Burns and 38 other recipients will be featured in the April 2017 Leadership Support and Giving Back issue of INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine.
“It really means a lot to be selected for such a prestigious award,” said Dean Chisholm-Burns. “It’s about giving back. Diversity and inclusion are fundamental to the success of any organization and community. Diversity is a strength and inclusion is like the glue that keeps us all together. Both are critical and needed.”
Recipients were chosen based on their outstanding demonstration of social responsibility; involvement with students, faculty, staff, and the community; and commitment to serving underrepresented populations as it relates to diversity and inclusion.
Christina Spivey, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy in the College of Pharmacy nominated Dean Chisholm-Burns. “I have worked with her for more than 10 years,” she said. “During that time, she has demonstrated a clear passion and commitment to increasing diversity both on campus and off.”
Dean Chisholm-Burns’ accomplishments include publishing multiple academic journal articles, addressing the need for a more diverse student and faculty body in pharmacy, participating in undergraduate community pipeline programs to attract a more diverse student body to pharmacy and endowing a College of Pharmacy scholarship for students who are the first in their family to achieve an undergraduate education – which often is an underrepresented group.
For more information about the 2017 Giving Back Award and INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, visit insightintodiversity.com.