By Teresa Hicks
University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing alumna Constance Smith Hendricks, PhD, RN, FAAN (BSN 1974, MSN 1981), is the recipient of the 2025 Alabama State Nurses Association Lifetime Service Award, one of the highest honors bestowed by the organization. The ASNA awards recognize excellence, leadership and service in nursing across the state.
As the primary professional organization for nurses, the ASNA represents more than 95,000 nurses statewide. ASNA advocates for the profession and provides essential resources such as continuing education, scholarships, leadership development and legal support.
“As the first African American nurse to have been elected as Vice President of an ASNA Board position in 1988, I am honored to have been recognized for my work globally promoting the profession I love,” Hendricks said. “I learned as a UAB student nurse the importance of being engaged in your professional organization and I never disconnected regardless of my geographical location.”
Hendricks is a nurse educator, scholar and advocate whose leadership has shaped nursing education and advanced health equity, and she has broken barriers and built pathways for underrepresented communities in health care. A third-generation college graduate, she is a two-time alumna of the School and the first African American to earn a PhD in Nursing from Boston College. Hendricks has held influential academic roles, including Dean of Nursing at Tuskegee University, Hampton University and Concordia College Alabama. She served as the Charles W. Barkley Endowed Professor at Auburn University, becoming the first African American tenured as Full Professor in Auburn University’s College of Nursing, and held faculty positions at the University of South Carolina and UAB School of Nursing.
Hendricks developed innovative nursing programs, including the first PhD in Nursing in Louisiana, the DNP program at Kentucky State University and helped establish the nursing program at the University of Montevallo. Her research focuses on health promotion among rural and minority populations and spans the southeastern United States and countries such as Liberia, Ghana, Ethiopia and Malawi. Her accolades include the Lillian Holland Harvey Award from the Alabama State Nurses Association, induction as a Fellow into the American Academy of Nursing and the Alabama Nursing Hall of Fame. She also was honored with the Atlantic Coast Conference UNITE Award in 2023 for her lifelong commitment to racial and social justice and has been inducted into the Tuskegee University School of Nursing Hall of Fame, The Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated Regional Hall of Fame and Alabama Zeta Hall of Fame. She was named the UAB School of Nursing’s Distinguished Alumna in 2007, and she was selected as one of the School’s Visionary Leaders in 2010. In 2025, she received the UAB School of Nursing’s Dean’s Award for Lifetime Career Achievement at its 75th Anniversary Gala.