March 13, 2008

Alison Hughes, MPA, was named as the recipient of the Ninth Annual Mim Morris Award by the Arizona Women's Political Caucus (AWPC) to honor her lifetime contribution to improving the status of women.  The award was presented at the AWPC's sixteenth annual Women Making History luncheon on Friday, March 14, 2008, at the historic Arizona Inn in Tucson.  Ms Hughes said, "It is a special honor that I have been selected by the Caucus to receive this year’s Mim Morris Woman Making History Award."

The Arizona Women's Political Caucus is the state affiliate of the National Women's Political Caucus, the only multi-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to increasing the number of pro-choice women in elected and appointed office. The organization works to help women attain leadership positions at all levels of government.

At the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, Ms. Hughes is the Director of the Rural Hospital Flexibility Program Association and also is the Director of Outreach for the Arizona Telemedicine Program.   Hughes started at the MEZCOPH Rural Health Office after graduating with a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1985. She succeeded Andrew W. Nichols as director upon his death in 2001 and served in that capacity until 2005.

The AWPC luncheon keynote speaker was Leslie Wolfe, PhD, President of the Center for Women Policy Studies, a policy analysis, research and advocacy institution. Dr. Wolfe formerly served as director of the Women’s Educational Equity Act Program in the U.S. Department of Education.  She is President of the Center for Women Policy Studies, a national non profit, multiethnic and multicultural feminist policy research and advocacy organization founded in 1972. The Center brings women’s human rights constructs to a range of policy issues and works closely with a national network of women state legislators in all 50 states.

The MEZCOPH family congratulates Alison Hughes for receiving this prestigious award.