Mona Wicks, PhD, RN

Outstanding Alumna Award Winner

Mona Newsome Wicks received her Associate and Bachelor of Science degrees in nursing from the University of Memphis in 1978 and 1981, respectively. Her M.S.N (medical and surgical nursing) was earned from the University of Tennessee Memphis (1987) and Ph.D. from Wayne State University (1992). On the faculty of the UTHSC since 1987, Dr. Wicks is currently Professor and Associate Dean for Research. She mentors students enrolled in the Ph.D. program, guest lectures in Ph.D. program courses, and mentors minority undergraduate students interested in health and science careers.

Professional memberships include the American and Tennessee Nurses Associations, Sigma Theta Tau International (Beta Theta Chapter at-large), the Council for the Advancement of Nursing Science, and Southern Nurses Research Society. Dr. Wicks reviews grants for the American Nurses Foundation and Southern Nursing Research Society and is a reviewer for the Adult and Older Adult Study Section, the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Nursing Research.

Dr. Wicks is a lifetime member of the Greater Memphis Area Chapter of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses and is a former president of this organization. Dr. Wicks’ program of research and publications focus on minority health and patient-caregiver populations in the context of chronic lung disease and end stage renal disease. She is currently conducting a study funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research to test an intervention to reduce depressive and anxiety symptoms in a sample of black women caring for relatives receiving chronic hemodialysis therapy. Dr. Wicks has been awarded university, regional, and national awards for her teaching and mentoring skills. She has also been invited to speak on teaching cultural competency and conducting family-based research.

She has received numerous awards and honors which include finalist, Memphis Business Journal Healthcare Heroes (non-physician) in 2008; the Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Leader Fellowship award 2008-2011 and the Chancellor’s Distinguished Educator Award from UTHSC in 2003-2006 and the COMPACT for Faculty Diversity, Southern Regional Educational Board Faculty Mentor of the Year award in 2002. Wicks also enjoys mentoring African American high school and college students interested in careers in health and science and teaches health promotion in her church where she serves as an usher. Her research interest focuses on improving the health and well being of African Americans, particularly women who care for and caregivers to their chronically ill relatives. She and her husband, Sammie and have been married for 25 years and have one son, Jamie.

Suzanne Meeks , BSN, MSN, MA

Most Supportive Alumna Award Winner

Suzanne Meeks received her BSN degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1956. She also holds a MA degree in Gerontology from the University of South Florida in 1971 as well as completing her BS in Nursing from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center here in Memphis in 1977.

Her first position after graduation was as a staff nurse in the ER of the Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati. She stayed at home with her children for a few years and then reentered the profession as a Nursing instructor in an AND program in Mississippi. The next 16 years were spent in nursing education, including being the Director of the Methodist Hospital School of Nursing. An opportunity to use her knowledge of gerontology and geriatric nursing came when she was appointed the position as the Director of Nursing at the Memphis Jewish Home. After 10 years in that capacity, she began an independent practice as a Geriatric Care Manager, a post she held until retirement in 2007.

While the Director of Nursing at Memphis Jewish Home, she worked with her good friends, Dr. Michael Carter and Dr. Peg Hartig to establish the nurse practitioner program at the Home. Later, she was named as an adjunct professor at the College where she occasionally gave lectures and seminars on being in independent nursing practice. She has four children, Steven, Christina, Michael and Katherine, five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.