Awards
- Honorary Degree - 1999
- D.S.
- Doctor of Science
- Commencement
- Indianapolis, Indiana
- Presenter: Myles Brand
About Beverly L. Malone
In a career in nursing as a practitioner, educator, administrator, consultant, and policy maker, Beverly Malone has worked tirelessly to enhance the quality of health care for all Americans. As president of the American Nurses Association since 1996, she spearheads the implementation of quality indicators to measure and monitor health care; advises foundations and government committees on health care policy concerns; promotes the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace; and fosters alliances among major health care associations. Malone also represents the country's health care community internationally, having served in 1998 as a public sector delegate to the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.
A native of Kentucky, Malone earned her bachelor's degree in nursing in 1970, and a master's degree in psychiatric nursing in 1972. After earning her master's degree, she maintained a private practice as a psychiatric nurse therapist while teaching in the nursing program at the University of Cincinnati. Malone entered a doctoral program in psychology in 1976; as an advanced doctoral student, she served as an intern in the office of Senator Daniel Inouye. There she gained her first experience with health care policy and legislation at the national level.
After receiving her Ph.D. in 1981, Malone took an administrative position with University Hospital of the University of Cincinnati, where she demonstrated her genius for leadership and established a consultation department composed of clinical nurse specialists. This was the first entrepreneurial enterprise to involve clinical nurse specialists within a university hospital setting, and by its fourth year of existence the department had generated more than $3 million in revenue. In 1986 Malone left hospital administration to become a professor at the School of Nursing at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Her administrative talents were soon recognized and she was appointed the chief academic officer of the School of Nursing. Under her leadership, the school saw a 300 percent increase in student enrollment over five years, while the cost per student fell dramatically. At the same time, Malone generously offered her talent and energy to support regional and national nursing organizations. In 1996 the membership of the American Nurses Association elected her president of the organization; she was uncontested in her 1998 reelection.
The author of more than 30 publications on nursing practice and policy, Malone travels nationally and internationally as a consultant, offering health care workshops on such topics as organizational restructuring, cultural diversity, and outcomes assessment. In addition to her leadership of the American Nurses Association, she has served as vice president of the American Nurses Foundation, 1990-1994; as secretary of the American Academy of Nursing, 1992-1994; and on President Clinton's Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry, 1996-1998. She is a member of the Health Plans and Professional Committee of the Foundation for Accountability; a member of the National Patient Safety Foundation; and, by appointment of Vice President AI Gore, sits on the national Quality Forum Planning Committee.
Despite her national commitments, Malone has repeatedly visited Indiana to advance the nursing profession. She has been a member of the Board of Advisors for the Indiana University School of Nursing since 1993. In the past 18 months she has been the keynote for the annual fundraising event for Nursing 2000(which provides scholarships for central Indiana nursing students) and the Indiana State Nurses' Association convention in Bloomington. In that same period, she led two workshops for IV faculty and was a featured speaker last December at the first Nursing and Philanthropy Conference, jointly sponsored by the Indiana University School of Nursing and the Center on Philanthropy.
Malone was honored in 1996 with the nationally esteemed Anthony J. Janetti Award for Extraordinary Contributions to Health Care. Her value to the field of nursing is summarized by Robert V. Piemonte, past president of the American Nurses Foundation, who says, "The people of this nation have benefited from Dr. Malone's vigilant attention to patient rights and quality health care initiatives. Through her efforts we live in a nation where health care is safer and more accessible than it has been in the past."