Tributes to Lorraine - Meg Zomorodi

Meg Zomorodi PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN, FNAP
Senior Associate Provost for Academic Excellence
Division of Student Success

Vice President, Robert A. Ingram Institute for Healthcare Access
Professor, UNC School of Nursing

Hello everyone,

For those of you who don't know me well, my name is Meg Zomorodi, and I first met Lorraine Alexander in 2014. For those that know me, no surprise, I was lost, trying to find an office in Rosenau in the ever winding hallways. I was meeting with Lorraine to help me with my Macy Faculty Scholars' award. I had been connected to her through her expertise in online learning. I think both of us will agree that that chance encounter changes both of our lives for the better.

We instantly bonded over evaluation models – Kirkpatrick's framework – and Lorraine was just so practical… I knew I needed her on my team. She was calm (that's not always me), she patient (yeah also not me), and she loves data (where I tend to go with emotions!)

Somewhere between my questions about course shells and her questions about, "this interprofessional education thing…," the plan quietly shifted. In 2018, she became the inaugural IPEP Director for Gillings. And she help set a culture of collaboration that is ingrained in all we do.

That's kind of her superpower. She shows up curious, thoughtful, and open—and before you know it, she’s building something transformative. She has a quiet way of asking questions that solve the problem you didn't even know you had.

Lorraine would work with me, when I would have a pivot---one more group, one more change, one more scenario, and in her calm way, she'd make it happen. One time when I rolled out Mr. Potato Head as a way to teach quality improvement, she just rolled her eyes and said, how can I help---that turned out to be one of her favorite activities by the way.

Lorraine also became, very early on, my personal calm down hotline. When we get feedback that hurts, she reminds me that "not everyone will love it like you love, and that's ok…" and then how can we look at the data to make appropriate incremental changes.

Again her superpower. Lorraine kindly and gently and with almost an epidemiological approach will say---let’s look at the data and remove the emotion. And just like that, my cortisol will drop, my blood pressure normalizes, and the world moves on.

That steady presence—the calm, grounded, perspective bringing leadership—is exactly what she brought to this role every day. She led without needing to be the loudest voice in the room. She asked the right questions. She mentored quietly. And she reminded us—sometimes with data, sometimes with humor—that collaboration is not a buzzword; it’s a practice.

This work is really really hard. And Lorraine inspires me to keep doing it. To not give up. And I cannot thank her enough for that.

So tonight, we celebrate a remarkable career, an extraordinary colleague, and a founding leader whose fingerprints are everywhere—even where we don’t always notice them.

Thank you Lorraine for your vision, your patience, your ability to talk us all off ledges, and for saying “yes” in 2014 when you had no idea where that yes would take you.

Congrats to you, Dear Friend.