FAIRHOPE, Ala. — The University of Alabama’s Capstone College of Nursing (CCN) hosted the 2007 Alabama Nursing Hall of Fame on Thursday, Oct. 18 at North River Yacht Club.

An induction ceremony is held every two years, and this year six inductees were honored, including Jo Ann Broadus of Fairhope.

The Alabama Nursing Hall of Fame was established in 2001 by CCN’s Board of Visitors to honor nurses and others who, through their work and accomplishments, have brought honor and fame to the profession of nursing and the state of Alabama.

The Alabama Nursing Hall of Fame Gallery is permanently located in the Capstone College of Nursing. The gallery serves as an archive of the nursing-related careers and accomplishments of those chosen for induction.

Broadus has had a career filled not only with teaching, but also with doing. A member of the faculty of The University of South Alabama for more than 15 years, she taught in both the undergraduate and graduate programs. Her leadership extended from the Department of Maternal Child Health to the Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner/Clinical Nurse Specialist track.

However, her passion for Women’s Health went beyond the classroom. She was instrumental in developing the Office of Women's Health for the state of Alabama where she served on its steering committee. A staunch proponent of primary care, she served on the advisory committee for the Baldwin County Primary Health Care Center.

Always the volunteer, she served on the recruitment committee for the American Red Cross, as a Mother’s March volunteer and a member of the Ronald McDonald House operations committee. Her volunteerism went international when she served on medical missions in El Salvador and Iraq. In Iraq, she was a member of a health care team that provided nurse practitioner services to the Kurdish peoples of Northern Iraq in the post-Gulf War phase.

After earning her BSN from the University of Alabama in 1961, and her MSN from The University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1980, she has spent most of her career in Mobile. She taught at the Providence School of Nursing from 1976 until 1979 before returning to The University of South Alabama. Broadus currently serves on the leadership board at The University of South Alabama.

Her career has touched the lives of patients, students, faculty and other health care providers, and she has made a difference not only in Mobile, but in her state, the Gulf Coast region and internationally as well.

Other inductees are: Dr. Janet Awtrey, Jung-Ja Chwe, Shirley Hester, Dr. Jean Kelley and Dr. Marguerite Rogers Kinney,

The Hall of Fame is governed by the Alabama Nursing Hall of Fame Board, which is composed of members of our Board of Visitors. This body establishes the criteria for selecting inductees and the methods for determining eligibility for, and election to, the Hall of Fame.

Nominations for induction into the Hall of Fame are submitted to the board’s selection committee, which reviews nominations, determines by ballot those nominees to be inducted, and then submits their names to the board.