Laurel Kramer and Jahnae Barnett were given the Zonta Women of Achievement awards at the Zonta Yellow Rose Luncheon on Tuesday.
The women were two of 15 women nominated.
Barnett, president of William Woods University, is the only woman president in the school's 142-year history and is credited with helping the school transfer from being a women-only school to a school that not only has male students but a university that is helping students across Missouri and Arkansas receive a higher education at various satellite campuses.
The only president to have been named from within the institution, Barnett has provided leadership through significant enrollment increases, academic program expansion and cooperative educational opportunities in her 22 years at the helm of William Woods.
Barnett highlighted her expansion of the school's mission to provide educational opportunities to working adults, with the first locations in Jefferson City and Columbia.
"For many of our students, this gives them a second chance - an opportunity to pursue an education or complete a degree that they might not otherwise have been able to attain," Barnett said in a press release.