Lifetime Achievement Award

The purpose of the Board on Health and Human Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award is to honor a nationally recognized leader who has a significant history of promoting and advancing the health and human sciences. Nominees for the BHHS Lifetime Achievement Award are individuals who serve or have served in significant faculty and/or administrative roles in higher education. Also, candidates will be individuals who earned recognition for advancing the mission of the health and human sciences and related disciplines in colleges and universities.

Eligibility and Nominations

Leaders who have earned recognition as health and human sciences leaders and administrators are eligible to be nominated for the Board on Health and Human Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award. Each BHHS member unit (college or university) is eligible to submit one nominee each year. Nominators shall submit a letter of nomination with a rationale for the candidate to be considered for the award. In addition to the letter, nominators are asked to provide a curriculum vita of the nominee. Former recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award are ineligible for this award. The award will be presented by the Board on Health and Human Sciences at their Annual Spring Meeting. The award winner must be available to attend the meeting and speak to the organization.

Procedure

College and universities shall implement their own procedure for identifying nominees. Each BHHS member institution may nominate only ONE candidate for the BHHS Lifetime Achievement Award. The Nomination Letter for the award shall be submitted electronically to bhhs@aplu.org as a single PDF document that includes: 1) a nomination letter detailing the nominee’s outstanding achievements and contributions to advancing the Human Sciences; and 2) the nominee’s vita. A BHHS review panel will evaluate and rank the nominees and recommend a recipient to the BHHS Board of Directors. Applications for 2025 BHHS awards are due no later than October 1, 2025.

Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients

2022
Bea Litherland
Smith

University of Missouri

Dean Emeritus
Former College of Human
Environmental Sciences

2021
Linda Kirk Fox

University of Georgia

Dean Emeritus
College of Family and
Consumer Sciences 

2020
Virginia Clark
Johnson

Dean Emeritus
College of Human Sciences
and Education at North
Dakota State University and
former BHHS Chair 

2019
June Henton

Former Dean
College of Human Sciences
at Auburn University and
former BHHS Chair

2018
Virginia M. Moxley

Kansas State University

Dean Emerita
College of Human Ecology,
Kansas State University 

2017
Pamela White

Iowa State University

Dean Emerita
College of Human Sciences

2016
Virginia Caples

Alabama A&M University

Professor and 1890
Administrator
College of Agricultural, Life
and Natural Sciences

2015
Pat Knaub

Oklahoma State University

Regent’s Professor & Dean
Emerita
College of Human Ecology

2014
David Edgell

East Carolina University

Professor
School of Hospitality
Leadership, College of
Human Ecology

2013
Billie Collier

Florida State University

Dean
College of Human Sciences

2012
Francille Firebaugh

Faculty Emerita 
Consumer Sciences,
The Ohio State University

Professor & Dean Emerita 
The College of Human
Ecology, Cornell University

2011
Penny Ralston

Florida State University

Professor, Dean Emeritus,
and Director of the Center
on Better Health and Life
for Underserved Populations

2010
Sharon Nickols

University of Georgia

Janet M. Barber
Distinguished Professor
College of Family and
Consumer Sciences

2009
Colien Hefferan

U.S. Department of
Agriculture

Advisor to the Director
National Institute of Food and
Agriculture