Dr. Nancy Moody, president of Tusculum College in Greeneville, Tenn., was the fall 2014 recipient of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s School of Nursing Chancellor’s Alumni Excellence Award. The award recognizes her distinguished career in higher education. Last year she received the Texas Woman’s University Chancellor’s Alumni Excellence Award.
“This award is so well deserved for Nancy, who throughout her career has demonstrated a consistent pattern of leadership in nursing and health care workforce development,” said University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing Dean Doreen Harper. “Very few of our graduates are presidents of colleges and universities, and we are proud of all she has accomplished. Nancy is an exemplar of our distinguished alumnus at the UAB School of Nursing.”
Dr. Moody has served as president of Tusculum College since 2009. During her tenure, she has led the college’s successful reaffirmation of accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges and secured a $45 million Community Facilities direct loan for the construction of two new apartment style residence halls and a science and math facility and to refurbish an existing academic building. She also secured a $3.8 million gift for the naming of the Ronald H. and Verna June Meen Center for Science and Math that will be complete in 2016. In addition, Dr. Moody has overseen the efforts to bring several new undergraduate and graduate programs to the college including nursing, chemistry, criminal justice, psychology and a master of business administration degree. The college’s board of trustees recently recognized Dr. Moody’s contributions to Tusculum by presenting her with the inaugural Founder’s Award in February 2013.
Prior to joining Tusculum College, Dr. Moody was president of Lincoln Memorial University for seven years. Under her leadership, LMU’s enrollment increased by 90 percent. The university also initiated the Lincoln Memorial University-DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine and expanded the Caylor School of Nursing to include a master of science in nursing degree program with family nurse practitioner and nurse anesthesia concentrations. Other programs initiated under her leadership included a master’s degree program preparing physician’s assistants and a doctorate of education degree.
A registered nurse, Dr. Moody began her academic career as a nursing instructor for Lincoln Memorial University in 1974 and advanced to hold several academic leadership positions there – including dean of the School of Nursing and Allied Health – prior to being named LMU president. Her career also includes serving as the executive director of the Tennessee Center for Nursing, as an assistant professor of nursing in the College of Nursing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and as associate professor and department chair in the College of Nursing at East Tennessee State University.
She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges and an advisory board member for the Northeast Tennessee College and Career Readiness Consortium funded through an Investing in Innovation (i3) grant funded by the U. S. Department of Education. Previously, Dr. Moody served on the NCAA DII President’s Council, was chair of the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association, and a member of the Board of the Appalachian College Association.
Dr. Moody received her associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in nursing from Eastern Kentucky University and earned a master of science in nursing from the TWU Institute of Health Sciences-Houston Center in 1978. She also received a doctorate in nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing at Birmingham.
University of Alabama at Birmingham’s School of Nursing Dean Doreen Harper presents Dr. Nancy B. Moody, president of Tusculum College, with the Chancellor’s Alumni Excellence Award.