Program update from the chair

The summer was a blur, and we’re off to the start of another academic year!

The faculty and students have been busy. Dr. Kurt Neelly made a presentation at the National Strength and Conditioning Association meeting in Las Vegas this summer. Dr. Stacie Bertram, Dr. Melissa Peterson, and Dr. A.J. Strubhar had poster presentations at the IPTA Annual Conference this fall in Bloomington. Since the conference was so close to campus, quite a few of our students were able to attend and present posters as well. Dr. Dawn Hall spent the summer as a traveling physical therapist, while Dr. Cheryl Sparks and Professor Joe Kelly held down the summer orthopedic course in spine. Professor Brenda Pratt recharged her batteries back home in Michigan, while Professor Bill McGehee spent most of the summer following high school band competitions. Now a grandma, Carol Wessler visited her first grandchild this summer in New York. Sharon Key enjoyed a family vacation to San Diego this summer. After attending the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine in Keystone, Colorado, I took a trip to San Diego for my brother-in-law’s wedding.

The department is literally “going to the dogs” as Brenda, Cheryl, and Stacie have all adopted service dogs. Jessie, Muggs, and Marley even attend faculty meetings from time to time. Michelle Kosner ’09 DPT ’12, co-founder of the service dog program (Paws Giving Independence), was honored as one of Peoria’s Top 25 Women in Leadership.

The campus continues to change almost on a daily basis. The new Athletic Performance Center and the Puterbaugh Men’s Basketball Practice Facility continue to take shape, and ground was broken this fall for the new Hayden-Clark Alumni Center as well as an addition to Westlake Hall. Bradley University is also looking for a new provost, and I am excited and honored to having been elected as the College of Education and Health Sciences representative on the search committee to fill this vital position.

It has been 15 years since we graduated our first BSPT class, and I would like to start a special alumni network. I need input from each class that has graduated from the BSPT, BSHS, MPT, and DPT programs. I would like to start this network to help us give back to our alumni, as well as to tap into the expertise of our alumni to strengthen our program. If you are interested in serving as your class representative as we begin to organize an alumni network, please contact me!

I hope you enjoy a wonderful fall season, and I look forward to talking to you again in late November!

Steve Tippett, PhD, PT, SCS, ATC