{"id":7771,"date":"2022-09-09T09:28:50","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T13:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/?p=7771"},"modified":"2022-09-20T16:55:59","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T20:55:59","slug":"class-of-22-spirit-honorees-linda-little-97-transforming-healthcare-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/2022\/09\/09\/class-of-22-spirit-honorees-linda-little-97-transforming-healthcare-for-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Class of ’22 Spirit honorees: Linda Little ’97 \u2014 transforming community health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each year, University of Detroit Mercy chooses an alumnus from each of its Colleges or Schools to honor as someone who has excelled in his or her profession, demonstrated outstanding leadership in work and devoted himself or herself in service to the larger community. Award recipients reflect the University\u2019s mission of excellence and service and bring pride to their alma mater. This year, the University will celebrate seven honorees at a special ceremony Thursday, Sept. 29, at the Ballroom of the Student Union on the McNichols Campus. If you are interested in attending the event, you can purchase tickets at\u00a0udmercy.edu\/awards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This year, the College of Health Professions will honor Linda Walton Little \u201997, president and CEO, Neighborhood Service Organization.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"LindaLittle has more than 25 years of experience providing transformational healthcare leadership in for- and nonprofit healthcare systems, managed care, government, community health and private sector consulting. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She earned a bachelor of science in Nursing from the McAuley School of Nursing and an MBA from Wayne State, combining the two degrees to improve health outcomes in southeast Michigan.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In her current position as president and CEO of the Neighborhood Service Organization, Little works to integrate healthcare into the $68-million nonprofit agency\u2019s social service programs to improve health equity for vulnerable populations.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Under her leadership, NSO developed the nation\u2019s first Healthy Housing Campus, a $25-million project that includes permanent supportive housing for the medically fragile, and Detroit\u2019s first Healthy Housing Center.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recognizing Little\u2019s commitment to excellence in healthcare led to her appointment by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to the state\u2019s COVID-19 Community Action Task Force on Racial Disparities. It was the second time she had been called upon by a Michigan governor: She served on Rick Snyder\u2019s Task Force on Southeastern Michigan Perinatal Quality improvement.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She has served on many community boards, including the American Heart Association of Southeast Michigan, where she served as president, and Beaumont Health Spectrum Health, Michigan\u2019s largest healthcare system. She is the current president of the Renaissance Chapter of Links Incorporated, an international service organization of professional women who develop programs to advance communities of color across the globe.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the years, Little has received many honors for her work including being named last year as one of Crain\u2019s Detroit Business\u2019 100 Most Influential Women in Michigan.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Other honorees this year are:<\/p>\n

College of Business Administration<\/span> \u2014\u00a0<\/span>John C. Donnelly \u201972<\/a>, consulting director, Donnelly Penman & Partners
\n<\/span>College of Liberal Arts & Education<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>Marlena Peleo-Lazar \u201972,<\/a> chief creative officer (Ret.), McDonald\u2019s Corporation<\/span>
\n<\/span>College of Engineering & Science<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>Rose A. Ryntz, Ph.D. \u201983<\/a>, president, Ryntz & Associates, LLC<\/span>
\n<\/span>School of Dentistry \u2014 Cheri S. Newman \u201989, \u201990, \u201998,<\/a> adjunct professor (Ret.) Detroit Mercy Dental
\nSchool of Architecture & Community Design \u2014 Craig L. Wilkins \u201985,<\/a> senior lecturer of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan
\nSchool of Law \u2014 Patricia D. Kennedy-Scott \u201978<\/a>, regional president (Ret.), Kaiser Foundation Health of Ohio<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each year, University of Detroit Mercy chooses an alumnus from each of its Colleges or Schools to honor as someone who has excelled in his or her profession, demonstrated outstanding leadership in work and devoted himself or herself in service to the larger community. Award recipients reflect the University\u2019s mission …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[12,17,23],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Kcng-21l","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7771"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7771"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7824,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7771\/revisions\/7824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}