Nursing professor earns Emory's top alumni service award

Above: The March 6 ceremony honoring the 2009 J. Pollard Turman Alumni Service Award recipient Sally Lehr 65N 76MN was first class all the way. Below, Lehr and President Jim Wagner show off the Turman "Bell Cow."

According to the recipient of the 2009 J. Pollard Turman Alumni Service Award, Sally Lehr 65N 76MN, “service” to her alma mater wasn’t a job or even a responsibility.
           
“It’s just something I’ve enjoyed doing,” said Lehr, clinical associate professor of nursing. “I’ve been with a group of people I like working with, and what I have done, I’ve enjoyed. I didn’t feel like I was ‘giving’ anything.” In truth, Lehr has given Emory a great deal—as a student, alumna, and faculty member.
           
On Friday, March 6, at a ceremony in the Miller-Ward Alumni House, Lehr was rewarded for her nearly 50 years of giving to Emory with the Turman Award, the University’s highest honor for alumni service.
           
The award, established in 1998 and presented by the Emory Alumni Association (EAA), is named for J. Pollard Turman 34C 36L 73H, an influential humanitarian. It recognizes Emory alumni who have performed extraordinary service or made outstanding contributions of time, expertise, and leadership to Emory. Lehr is the first graduate of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and the first faculty member to receive the award. The ceremony honoring Lehr drew more than 160 attendees, the most ever.
           
“I’ve really found a place to call home,” Lehr told the ceremony’s audience following a sustained ovation. Lehr earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the nursing school, and shortly after receiving her master’s was encouraged by her mentor, then-Professor Rose Dilday 79N, to apply for an open teaching position. She got it and has served on the faculty (as well as in private practice) ever since.
           
The Turman honor includes a glass “bell cow” (Turman’s personal nickname for outstanding leaders) made by Atlanta’s Fräbel Glass Art Studio, and a $25,000 donation from the Tull Foundation to be pledged to the Emory school, unit, or program of the recipient’s choice. Lehr said she plans to donate the award to the nursing school and the Winship Cancer Institute.
           
Lehr’s alumni engagement began in the mid-1970s, when she helped re-form the Nurses Alumni Association (NAA) Board. She has served on the NAA Board ever since and her leadership includes multiple one-year terms as its president, a role she currently fulfills. University-wide, Lehr has served a three-year term on the Emory Alumni Board (EAB), and she has been a member of the nursing school faculty for 32 years.
           
“As a teacher and as an alumna, on campus and off, Sally Lehr’s service to her community has been invaluable and transforming,” said President Jim Wagner, upon presenting the award. “She has been and continues to be a role model for generations.”—Eric Rangus

Listen to the awards ceremony.

Listen to an interview with Sally Lehr.

See the photos.