Recipients are Dr. Bettye Coward of Blue Mountain, Barbara Dean of Mobile, Ala., Jacqueline DiCicco of Columbus, Dr. Helen Turner of Jackson and Dr. Sandra Dupont White of San Antonio, Texas.

Coward, a 1965 graduate, is the seventh and first female president of Blue Mountain College. She earned an associate’s degree from Jones County Junior College, a bachelor’s degree in home economics education from The W and a master’s degree in home economics education and a doctorate in administration in higher education, both from the University of Southern Mississippi.

She has spent her career in education. She has taught at Saint Mary’s Dominican College in New Orleans, the University of Mississippi and the public secondary school system in Rankin County. Prior to becoming Blue Mountain’s president in 2001, she held several positions, including vice president for academic affairs, during her 30 years at Mississippi College.

Coward’s honors include being selected by faculty and students as the 1990 Professor of the Year at Mississippi College and as one of Mississippi’s 50 Leading Business Women in 1999. In addition, she is very involved in her community and church.

Following graduation from The W in 1947 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a minor in physical education, Dean served as office manager and/or accountant for several companies in the Mobile, Ala., area. She retired as the accountant of Stacy Building Materials and Mobile Lumber Company, Inc. in 1992.

She has served in many leadership positions for the Mobile League of Business and Professional Women (BPW), the Alabama Federation of BPW Clubs, Inc., National Federation of BPW Clubs, Inc., Zonta Club of Mobile, District XI Zonta International and Zonta International.

Currently a consultant, DiCicco has 20 years experience in the banking industry serving in the areas of marketing, public relations and business development. In addition to her consulting business, she is a licensed aesthetician and clinical skin care specialist and owns the Skin Care Clinic located in Jamie’s Salon in Columbus.

She received a bachelor’s degree from The W in 1991 and has a master’s degree from Mississippi State University. She also has a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., where she was named a Ph.D. Fellow in 2000, is an honor graduate of the Mississippi School of Banking at the University of Mississippi and earned her commercial lending and foundation of banking diplomas from the American Institute of Banking.

Very active in her community, DiCicco has been named a Financial Women International Woman of Excellence, and she was included in The Commercial Dispatch’s Who’s Who in the Golden Triangle 2001.

A 1965 W graduate with a bachelor’s degree in biology and a minor in chemistry, Turner earned a doctorate in medical microbiology in 1975, received a medical degree in 1979, completed residency training in internal medicine in 1982 and completed fellowship training in the subspecialty of infectious diseases in 1984, all from the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

She joined the faculty at UMMC’s Department of Medicine in 1984 where she is now the associate dean for academic affairs. Previous to this position, she was the first woman to serve as associate chief of state for education and chief of medical services of the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Turner has been selected “Teacher of the Year” twice, has been named to the “Best Doctors in America,” has served on the Mississippi State Medical Association (MSMA) Board of Trustees and is a site visitor for the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. She also is active in her church and community.

A retired lieutenant colonel of the United States Army, White received a bachelor’s degree in biology and physical sciences from The W in 1974. She also earned a master’s degree in management from Webster University in St. Louis, Mo., in 1979; a master’s in health administration from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, in 1988; and a doctorate in health services management and policy from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., in 1995.

She joined the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps in 1974 as a second lieutenant. She has held many important positions, including her last two assignments as executive officer and deputy chief of the Department of Health Plan Management at Brooke Army Medical Center at Ft. Sam in Houston, Texas.