Fund-raising professionals champion Blackwell

Bess Crawley Blackwell, second from left, former assistant director of hospital education who retired from the Medical Center in 2008, receives the 2012 Community Champion Award during the Association of Fundraising Professionals' National Philanthropy Day celebration Nov. 15 at the Jackson Country Club.

On hand for the ceremony are, from left, Lisa Vaughan, director of business operations in the School of Nursing; Matthew Blackwell, Bess Blackwell's husband; Dr. Pat Waltman, professor of nursing and associate dean for academic affairs and accreditation; and Rosalyn Howard, executive director of the Mississippi Nurses Foundation.

Blackwell volunteers with Sta-Home Hospice and was named volunteer of the quarter in July. She also volunteers with Southern Care Hospice. Blackwell was named the School of Nursing Alumnus of the Year in 2010.

In 2008, she established The Bess Crawley Blackwell Endowed Scholarship in Nursing fund, which is given annually to two undergraduate nursing students.