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Marianne Hutti, PhD, APRN, an educator who relishes the small ways she has helped students succeed over the years, has received a major accolade: The State Award for Excellence from the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), the largest professional membership organization for nurse practitioners of all specialties.

The annual award is given to a nurse practitioner in each state who demonstrates excellence in his or her area of practice. Hutti, a UofL School of Nursing professor, will be honored at an awards ceremony and reception during the AANP 2016 National Conference June 21-26 in San Antonio.

In 1993, Hutti founded the Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner Program at UofL, the first of its kind in Kentucky. It has transformed into the Women’s Health-Family Nurse Practitioner Dual Major, and graduates have maintained a 100-percent pass rate on their first attempt of the NCC certification exam since the program’s inception. Hutti helped develop the women’s health nurse practitioner scope and standards of practice, which included requiring a master’s of science in nursing as the entry into practice for women’s health nurse practitioners, said Whitney Nash, PhD, MSN, ANP-BC, UofL School of Nursing associate dean of practice and service.

“Dr. Hutti has an extensive record of research that includes more than 30 publications and more presentations than I can count,” said Nash, the Kentucky representative for AANP. “Her most recent and perhaps most significant contribution to women’s health is her development of the Perinatal Grief Intensity Scale. This instrument aids in predicting those parents at greatest risk for intense grief after perinatal loss.”

Hutti has received national and international recognition for her research on perinatal loss, the death of a fetus or infant soon after birth. But for Hutti, the vivid memories of helping struggling students excel in nursing school and go on to achieve professional success stand out.

“There was a group of students I had who just didn’t know how to study, and I remember having study sessions over my dining room table with them,” Hutti said. “Every one of them ended up passing my course and all their subsequent courses. When I look back over my career, those are the things that really make me feel good.”