Mizzou Alumni News

Faculty-Alumni Awards recognize these Tigers’ outstanding achievements. Frontline Champion

Before Winnie Fritz was a clinical consultant, board member, hospital CEO and COO, military officer in the U.S. and Jordan armed forces, nurse manager of the presidential suite at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and the 2020 Mizzou Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award winner, she served on the front lines in the U.S. Army Nurse Corp in Vietnam, piloting Huey helicopters into battle zones and providing care in medevac missions. So, as the pandemic barreled down on hospitals around the country, Fritz knew where to turn. “We need to be sure that we’re listening to front lines,” says Fritz, BSN ’68, the chief operating officer and senior vice president of operations and clinical services for HCCA Management Co., which is based in Franklin, Tennessee, though Fritz lives in Surprise, Arizona. “The front lines know the issues and they know most of the fixes if we just ask them. If we don’t listen to them, we get in trouble every time.” Fritz is known for these leadership lessons. In 2019, she gave a leadership development presentation at MU Health Care and made patient care rounds with nurses at University Hospital and Women’s & Children’s Hospital. In 2018, to help prepare MU nursing students to work on the front lines, Fritz presented a thought paper to School of Nursing leadership on curriculum design and instruction systems in a changing health care environment. “Her life experiences are so inspiring, and the networking opportunities she offers are so valuable to student education,” says Jean Thompson, BSN ’63, who serves on the Mizzou Nursing Alumni Organization board with Fritz. “The Sinclair School of Nursing is stronger because she stepped foot on our campus back in fall of 1964.” — Kelsey Allen, BA, BJ ’10 FACULTY-ALUMNI AWARD WINNERS

65th Distinguished Service Award

Wanona (Winnie) Fritz, BSN ’68 COO & Senior VP Operations and Clinical Services, HCCA Management Co. 61st Distinguished Faculty Award

R. Wilson Freyermuth John D. Lawson Professor of Law, Curators Distinguished Teaching Professor, School of Law David M. Braun, PhD ’97

Professor of Plant and Biological Sciences; Director, University of Missouri Maize Center; Director, University of Missouri Plant Growth Facilities 52ND ALUMNI AWARD

Patricia Breckenridge, BS Ag ’75, JD ’77 Judge, Supreme Court of Missouri

Bryan L. Garton, BS Ag ’85, M Ed ’89 Senior Associate Dean and Director of Academic Programs, College of Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources

Bruce J. Loewenberg, BSF ’61 Owner, Show-Me Salers

Frank O. Bowman III Floyd R. Gibson Missouri Endowed Professor of Law, Curators Distinguished Professor, School of Law 52ND FACULTY AWARD

Elizabeth C. Bryda Professor of Veterinary Pathobiology; Director, Rat Resource & Research Center; Director, MU Animal Modeling Core

Robert E. Sharp Curators Distinguished Professor of Plant Sciences; Director, Interdisciplinary Plant Group Lesa Wessler McCartney, BSN ’77, MSN ’97 Retired Senior Vice President-Quality Management, Preferred Family Healthcare Inc.

Verna Adwell Rhodes, BSN ’54, M Ed ’57, EdSp ’80 Associate Professor Emeritus, Sinclair School of Nursing Bill Roundtree, BS Ed ’87 Vice President, Agency-Sales, State Farm Insurance Co.