Distinguished Alumni Award

Lt. Col. M. Nicholas Coppola, MSA '95, is a career Army officer who enlisted in the Army Corps of Engineers at age 17 while still in high school.

After his first active duty tour as an enlisted soldier, Nick pursued higher education. He earned a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York, Potsdam in 1987 and later earned a Ph.D. in health research from the Medical College of Virginia.

In his 20-year career as an Army Medical Service Corps officer, Nick has served in both field units and Army hospitals. Assignments have included leadership positions in the 10th Mountain Divison, 25th Infantry Divison, Walter Reed, the Pentagon, Army Medical Center and School, and the 121st General Hospital, Seoul, South Korea.

He is board certified in health care management, and he is a fellow of the American College of Health Care Executives and the U.S. Medicine Institute. He holds the surgeon general's prestigious "9A Proficiency Designator," which is given to the top 1 percent of Army medical department officers.

He is assigned to the Army-Baylor graduate program in health and business administration in San Antonio, Texas, as the program director of the Master of Health Administration and the combined MHA and Master of Business Administration degree programs.

Nick supports CMU by being a volunteer adjunct faculty member in the Doctor of Health Administration degree program.