Dr. Connie B. Bishop of Gibsonville received the Duke School of Nursing Distinguished Alumna for Service this past Saturday.
The award presentation noted that Bishop has dedicated nearly 50 years to the nursing profession as a nursing educator specializing in health information technology, Baldrige performance excellence criteria, and quality management.
Through her service, volunteerism, and activism, Bishop has demonstrated a life-long commitment to social change. As a faculty member in the School of Nursing at North Carolina A&T University, she has witnessed first-hand the lived experiences of students who were negatively impacted by the social determinants of health.
As a result, she absorbed the importance of social change and, with a non-nursing faculty member, created the first College of Health Sciences Health Disparities Symposium.
As a consulting associate at the Duke University School of Nursing and visiting professor at Chamberlain University’s College of Nursing, she incorporates the social determinants of health into the curriculum by using community needs assessments to teach database diving and evidence-based practice in nursing informatics courses.
Bishop also leads state and national initiatives for nursing informatics. She is a member of the North Carolina Nurses Association Council on Nursing Informatics and serves on the North Carolina National League for Nursing as a social media volunteer.
She is also a Fellow of the Institute of Political Leadership (IOPL).
In 2003, Bishop was awarded the North Carolina Nurses Association Nurse of the Year Award.
As evidence of Bishop’s selfless service to others, she received the Service Above Self Award from the Exchange Club of Berkeley for her response during and after the Loma Prieta earthquake.
Bishop was on the Cyprus Structure section of Interstate 880 that collapsed during the 6.9 magnitude earthquake and triaged victims until help arrived.
She then organized a team at Alta Bates Herrick Hospital to provide critical stress debriefing to journalists, first responders, and emergency department staff. She also provided emergency mental health services at the county morgue for families who were identifying their loved ones.
Bishop is equally dedicated to giving back to Duke University. Bishop is a past president and emerita member of the Duke University School of Nursing Alumni Council and is a member of the Duke University Alumni Advisory Admissions Team for the Triad region of North Carolina.
Among other efforts, she and her husband, the Rev. Ben B. Bishop, also created a scholarship for undergraduate students who are traditionally underrepresented in nursing.
Bishop earned her BSN from Duke in 1975, her master of science in nursing degree with a specialty in psychiatric-community mental health nursing from the University of South Carolina, her master of business administration degree from University of New Haven, and her doctor of nursing practice degree from the Duke University School of Nursing.
She has also received a certificate in nursing education from Drexel University.
