The Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing (NHWSN) community is mourning the loss of Twilla Haynes, RN, JD, 80MN, ANP-BC, FAAN, who passed away on Sunday, August 25, 2020. Haynes was a nurse practitioner and educator who dedicated her career to teaching students close to home and helping some of the world’s most vulnerable populations abroad. She is survived by many friends and family, including two members of our faculty—her daughters—Hope Haynes Bussenius, 93MN, DNP, APRN, FAANP, and Angela Haynes Ferere, 91PH, 08BSN, 09MSN, DNP, APRN, as well as her granddaughter Abrielle Victoria Lee Bussenius, 22N.

“My friend worked tirelessly to provide health care to underserved communities in Georgia and Haiti,” says Linda McCauley, dean of the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. “She focused her energy and influence to help those less fortunate, especially children. She started a foundation and an orphanage to put her passion into action. Because of Twilla, thousands of people of all ages receive necessary medical care, food, medicine and the supplies to live a healthier life.”

Haynes earned her MSN from NHWSN in 1980. She also received her BSN from the Medical College of Georgia and a law degree from the Atlanta Law School. Haynes had more than thirty-five years of teaching experience and was a clinical instructor at NHWSN, providing nursing education and unique experiences to Emory students in international and domestic settings since 1990. At Emory, she assisted with the South Georgia Farm Workers Health Project and served on Emory’s Nurses’ Alumni Association (NAA) Board. In 2010, Haynes was awarded the prestigious Emory Medalist by the Emory Alumni Association.

The Impact of Your Gift

To honor Haynes’ legacy, please join us in establishing the triennial Twilla Haynes Faculty Award Fund to recognize an outstanding faculty member who exemplifies teaching excellence in both the classroom and the field and whose work addresses and serves underserved or vulnerable populations. In addition to paying tribute to awarded faculty members, the prize will provide a stipend allowing awardees to focus on research during the summer months essential to their development as teachers and scholars, as well as field work to serve vulnerable populations.

In order to establish this endowed fund, we must raise a total of $50,000, $25,000 of which will come from the NHWSN as a match to all gifts made to the Twilla Haynes Faculty Award Fund. This match has been extended to apply to all gifts received by February 28, 2021.

Should minimum funding required to establish the award not be secured, gifts raised in support of the Twilla Haynes Faculty Award Fund will be redirected to support the School of Nursing’s Fund for Excellence.

By giving through this campaign, your gift will be designated for the Twilla Haynes Faculty Award Fund within the Gifts Pending Designation - Nursing School Endowment fund.

Checks may be sent to:

Twilla Haynes Faculty Award Fund

Office of Gift Accounting

1762 Clifton Road Atlanta, GA 30322-1710