EAST TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY

Office of the President Emeritus

Box 70421 ● Johnson City, TN 37614

Ms. Kate Mosley, Senior Director

February 13, 2020

Office of Strategic Initiatives and Development Operations

Belmont University

1900 Belmont Boulevard

Nashville, TN 37212

RE: Dr. Wilsie Bishop – Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame Nomination – Additional Data

Dear Ms. Mosley,

Please accept this letter as my request for the following accomplishments achieved by Dr. Wilsie Bishop in 2019 to be included with nomination materials already on file for her induction into the Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame.

In 2019, Dr. Bishop:

• Was promoted to the position of Senior Vice President for Academics and Interim Provost at East Tennessee State University and tasked with leading a realignment of all academic operations to best support the strategic initiatives and goals of the institution and foster an environment for interdisciplinary collaboration among all disciplines, which included the unification of clinical care and academic programs as “ETSU Health.”

• Received from the Southern Association of College and Schools Commission on Colleges its highest honor, the James T. Rogers Distinguished Leadership Award, in recognition of “extraordinarily distinctive and effective leadership.”

• Was appointed by the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to a fouryear term on the Defense Health Board Public Health Subcommittee, which “provides independent advice and recommendations to maximize the health, safety and effectiveness of all Department of Defense health care beneficiaries.”

I trust the Selection Committee will agree that these points of special recognition at local, regional, and national levels underscore Dr. Bishop’s continuing and lasting contributions toward improving the overall quality of life for citizens of Tennessee and beyond.

Sincerely,

Paul E. Stanton, Jr. President Emeritus

Dr. Paul E. Stanton, Jr. East Tennessee State University Johnson City, TN

Dear Dr. Stanton

It is my privilege to strongly support your nomination of Dr. Wilsie Bishop for induc tion into the Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame. I have known and worked with Dr. Bishop for more than a decade in my capacity as President/CEO of the Association of Academic Health Centers, and therefore feel qualified to comment on her suitability for this important honor.

During my 13 year tenure as President of the Association, I have interacted with Dr. Bishop in a variety of settings: as an active member of the association where she and her team attended meetings and made presentations; during a comprehensive site visit I made to the ETSU campus; and as part of her 3 year tenure as a member of the AAHC board of directors. In all of these settings and interactions, she demonstrated thoughtful and insightful leadership. She also contributed valuably to our quarterly issue of Leadership Perspectives.

Dr Bishop’s leadership skills are readily apparent. She has a deep understanding of academic health centers and the opportunities and challenges they are facing. Dr. Bishop enrolled ETSU in the pioneering Aligned Institutional Mission (AIM) Program of the Association, which provided both insight and strategy leading ETSU into the future. Of note, she is an excellent team leader and mentor. She values each and every member of her diverse leadership team highly and basks in their reflected glow, a true sign of outstanding leadership.

During her service as a member of the AAHC board of directors, Dr. Bishop led the way in demonstrating the value of interdisciplinary leadership. Her insights were invaluable to m e, and helped in the development of the Association’s priorities and programs.

Lastly, I would like to comment on Dr. Bishop’s character. She is driven by a deep sense of purpose, service, and transparent leadership. She is an outstanding role model for a ll who aspire to leadership in academic healthcare.

Based on my extensive experience working with academic center leaders in the U.S. and around the world, I am indeed privileged to endorse her candidacy for this well -earned honor.

Sincerely,

Steven A. Wartman, MD, PhD, MACP President Emeritus Association of Academic Health Centers

2170 Hunters Mill Road

Powhatan, VA

February 4, 2019

I am writing to support the nomination of Dr. Wilsie Bishop to the Tennessee Healthcare Hall of Fame. I first met Dr. Bishop when selected to manage the East Tennessee State University’s Community Partnership for Health Professions Education Program funded by the Kellogg Foundation in 1992. I worked in the Division of Health Sciences which Dr. Bishop directed for almost twenty years before leaving ETSU to become the Deputy Commissioner for Continuous Improvement and Training at the Tennessee Department of Health in 2011.

Dr. Bishop’s career has demonstrated consistent, persistent, and insistent respect each health professional discipline’s role and value and its contribution as part of interdisciplinary teams. She helped initiate, maintain, and expand an interdisciplinary ethic from its beginnings in early 1990s through their current international recognition. Dr. Bishop drew lessons from her own practice experiences as a nurse to fuel educational, service and research programs at ETSU imbued with the spirit of collegiality, rigor and community responsiveness. She is a nationally recognized academic administrator who has donated her expertise with accrediting agencies. At the same time she has freely shared her time and talents across multiple health, human service and volunteer agencies in Tri Cities.

Dr. Bishop’s friendly, thoughtful and supportive demeanor has enabled her participation and leadership in building a multitude of important relationships between ETSU and health entities over many years. She is an excellent planner and facilitator, a skill which has enabled dialogs about difficult health issues, creating progressive programs with thoughtful long-term public accountabilities that assured the broadest range of benefits for all who engaged in collective initiatives. She has been a role model for women in leadership and has continuously opened her door to those seeking advice or guidance.

I am honored to support Dr. Bishop’s nomination. She is truly one of the go -to participants in the Tri Cities, a strong representative in statewide forums, and an acknowledged leader in international interdisciplinary education.

Sincerely yours,

Bruce Behringer

Deputy Commissioner for Continuous Employment and Training Emeritus Tennessee Department of Health