Trevecca Nazarene University of Nashville, Tenn., awarded former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole the second annual Nina Griggs Gunter Servant Leadership Award last week.
Dole, a Salisbury native, accepted the award in a special chapel service Sept. 15 in the sanctuary of Trevecca Community Church of the Nazarene.
At the same ceremony, Vera Pendergraft, a senior at Trevecca, was awarded the Nina Griggs Gunter Servant Leadership Scholarship Award in recognition of the ways that she has demonstrated servant leadership.
In Dole’s career of service, according to the university, she has been a model for females while giving distinguished service to her country and to humanitarian causes in positions in both government and the public sector.
She has served five U.S. presidents and held two Cabinet positions, as secretary of Transportation and secretary of Labor. She also served as a commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission; represented the state of North Carolina as its senator, the first woman to be elected senator from the state; served eight years as president of the world’s largest humanitarian organization, the American Red Cross, the first woman since Clara Barton to serve in that role; and sought her party’s presidential nomination, the first viable female candidate from a major political party.
Dole’s accomplishments have been recognized by many organizations. She has received honorary doctorates from more than 40 colleges and universities; moreover, her name has appeared numerous times on Gallup Poll’s list of the world’s top ten most admired women
A graduate of Duke University, Dole earned a law degree from Harvard Law School and a master of arts in teaching from Harvard University before beginning a career of service.
Her list of other awards is extensive: Churchwoman of the Year by Religious Heritage of America, Religious Broadcasters’ Board of Directors Award and Christian Woman of the Year Award, the Governor’s North Carolina Award, North Carolinian of the Year from the North Carolina Press Association, Citizen of the Carolinas Award from the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women in State Government, Leadership Award from the League of Women Voters, winner of the Raoul Wallenberg Award for Humanitarian Service, Humanitarian Award by the National Commission Against Drunk Driving, the Foreign Policy Association Medal, the Radcliffe College Medal, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. She has been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
The Nina Griggs Gunter Servant Leadership Award is named for Dr. Nina Griggs Gunter, a 1958 alumna of Trevecca, former general director of Nazarene Missions International, and the first female elected to serve as one of the six general superintendents in the Church of the Nazarene.
This award recognizes Dr. Gunter’s significant impact on the Church of the Nazarene and her influence as a female role model for women who are servant leaders.
At the ceremony, Dole spoke about the role her Christian faith has played in her life and about her experiences as a servant leader.