The Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools has awarded Nursing Dean Afaf Meleis with its 2008 International Distinguished Leadership Award.

Meleis is being recognized for her international, professional and personal achievements in global health, a subject on which she has published six books and over 150 journal articles.

"I am thrilled and honored to accept this award on behalf of all the women in the world who have been empowered to change their lives and the lives of other women," said Dean Afaf Meleis.

Meleis will receive the award on Dec. 8 at the fifth-annual Building Global Alliances Symposium. This year the theme of the symposium is "the challenges of migration for health professional women."

Meleis is also a professor of Nursing and Sociology and is a fellow at multiple nursing institutes.

"I am especially humbled to accept this on behalf of those nurses who have delivered care that changes our world," she said.