Volume 2 – 3nd Edition | March 2019
The faculty, staff, and alumni of the College of Health Sciences continue to do great things that embody the mission of preparing and inspiring leaders and professionals. Most recently, our nursing program ranked FIRST in over 1900 programs in the entire country with regard to first-time licensure exam pass rates. Additionally, several students took the initiative to begin a WCU chapter of the Alpha Eta Society, a national honor society for allied health professions. Our faculty continue to be recognized for their scholarly pursuits within their disciplines on a regional and national level. Finally, we highlight several alumni who continue to make us proud with their extraordinary, even sometimes heroic, achievements!
Scott Heinerichs, Dean, College of Health Sciences

CONGRATULATIONS CHS 1871 AWARD WINNERS!
The 1871 Award was established in 2018 to recognize WCU juniors and seniors who are high-achieving in both the academic and co-curricular realms. Each year, up to 71 students will be honored for their outstanding accomplishments related to Academics, Leadership, Community Engagement, and Career Readiness. The Award Ceremony will be held on Thursday, April 11 at 4:00pm in Sykes Student Union.

The following CHS Students were selected for the 1871 Award:
Samantha Barnett (Nursing)
Kelsey Behrndt (Nutrition)
Samantha Bouton (Health)
Jacob Brycki (Health)
Heather Ann Bushover (Nursing)
Katherine Fisher (Kinesiology)
Megan Horsell (Nursing)
Allena McCloud (Nursing)
Claire McCreavy (Health)
Madeline Shaw (Sports Medicine)
CHS and Cabrini Co-Sponsor Symposium
The College of Health Sciences co-sponsored the Convergence of Childhood Obesity and Hunger: Taking Action Symposium with Cabrini University. It was a very successful interdisciplinary collaboration with national speakers moderated by WHYY's Maiken Scott. Students had the opportunity to learn alongside faculty, researchers and practitioners about childhood obesity and food insecurity. Over 20 community partners were in attendance and participated in a networking session with attendees to develop strategies to reduce obesity and food insecurity.
WCU Interprofessional Education Task Force
Faculty member Dr. Nadine Bean ( Graduate Social Work, not pictured) , along with CHS faculty Drs. Neil Curtis, Patricia Davidson, Elizabeth Grillo, Gopal Sankaran, and Christine Thomas serving on WCU’s IPE task force, presented at the 2018 Interprofessional Care for the 21 st Century Conference at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA. The presentation focused on the task forces’ IPE framework involving asynchronous learning, in-person team activities, case simulations, and an opportunity for interprofessional collaborative practice. 

In addition, Dr. Patricia Davidson and Dr. Elizabeth Grillo presented the work at the 2018 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) conference in Boston, MA. Dr. Davidson received a stipend from ASHA to present at the conference as a registered dietician. 

The work of the WCU IPE task force has also resulted in a manuscript accepted for publication in the International Journal of Health Sciences Education
Center for Contemplative Studies
On March 28, the Center will host James Elkins, PhD as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series in a presentation " Intense Encounters with Artworks." Dr. Elkins will propose two reasons for the strange relationship between art and religion. First, there’s the very close coincidence between
the language describing religious experience
and the words for aesthetic experience--a
closeness some people may find uncomfortable or misleading. Second, academics and religious practitioners have different forms of conversation: the former tend to begin conversations with specifics about the artworks, and the latter may prefer to begin with general talk about the viewer’s
knowledge and experience of faith.

REGISTER HERE: TICKETS
Communication Sciences & Disorders ( CSD)
Speech-language pathologist Liz Grillo has been studying the debilitating voice disorders that teachers experience with 9+ hours per day of high-impact stress on vocal chords. Nearly 60% of the country’s teachers are affected by voice problems over the course of their careers, and reports indicate that students’ cognitive functioning is significantly being reduced on material delivered orally by teachers who have been even mildly affected. Dr. Grillo has invented the only comprehensive voice-evaluation smartphone application tool in the U.S. that allows individuals to quickly assess voice measure changes on a daily basis and while teachers are actually teaching. Supported by a National Institutes of Health R15 grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (2015-2019), Grillo and her 30 WCU graduate speech-language pathology students have trained 76 student teachers over the past three years prior to their entry into the classroom.

See Dr. Grillo's work highlighted here on the local news!


CSD at WCU honored the start of the clinical service delivery experiences of our Year 1 M.A. students in Speech Language Pathology with our inaugural "White Coat Ceremony," held in the Sykes Theater. Students received their white coats and stethoscopes and recited the Principles of Ethics from the ASHA Code of Ethics. Families and friends joined us for this occasion. This event included a presentation by our Graduate Research Scholarship recipient, Alyssa Zimmerman, who shared her prospectus related phonological development in bilingual development.
Congratulations!  In January 2019, WCU became home to the 90 th  chapter of this esteemed society. The vision for the establishment of the local chapter started with two Honors College students in the Department of CSD, Courtney Brennan and Cassandra Caraballo, who wanted to create a way to honor their peers for academic excellence. With the support of their Honors Capstone Project advisor, Dr. Cheryl Gunter, they submitted the application for a charter. The induction of the inaugural class of Alpha Eta members on our campus is scheduled for April 7. Undergraduate students must have completed 75% of their curricula, have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.50, and rank in the top 20% of their cohort. Graduate and certificate students must have completed 50% of their curricula, have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.80, and rank in the top 20% of their cohort. 
Health ( HEA )
Allison Parente (MPH-Environmental Health, August 2018) presented her research titled “ Release and Transport of Soluble PO 4 -P from Sediments, Soils and Senescent Leaf Fragments in the W. Branch Brandywine Creek, PA ” at the 2019 Delaware Estuary Science and Environmental Summit in Cape May, NJ January 2019. Co-authored by Charles V. Shorten (Professor of Health), the work described was a combination of Allison’s Applied Learning Experience Project for her MPH degree and other work conducted by Dr. Shorten and BS Environmental Health undergraduates Jacob Brycki, BSEH, May 2019 and Emily Condron, BSEH August 2018.
Dr. Shorten will be retiring at the end of the Spring semester 2019. We invite you to join us as we celebrate his time at WCU with his " Legacy Lecture " on April 25 at 6:30 pm in Sykes Theater.

Kinesiology ( KIN )
Dr. Ken Clark spoke at the NFL Combine Strength Coaches Education Event and Awards Banquet, as part of the Professional Football Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association (PFSCCA). Dr. Clark was among a small group of invited speakers for an audience of over 80+ strength and conditioning coaches and sports scientists from all 32 NFL teams. 

His presentation titled "The Latest Research in Running Mechanics, Speed Development & Agility"  addressed current research in running mechanics, speed development, and agility, and provided practical application of this research towards athletic performance enhancement.
Congratulations! WCU is GOLDEN!
Under the direction of Associate Dean (interim) Dr. Melissa Reed, WCU has earned GOLD CAMPUS Recognition from the American College of Sports Medicine. Exercise is Medicine ®  On Campus (EIM-OC) launched its recognition program in 2014 to honor universities/colleges for their efforts to make physical activity assessment and promotion a standard of care on campus. Campuses earn gold, silver or bronze based on their EIM-OC activities. Formal recognition will take place at the ACSM Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida on May 29.
Congratulations! Dr. Margaret Ottley has been appointed to serve on the USA Track & Field 2019 Under-20 Pan American Team taking place in Costa Rica in mid-July.
Nursing ( NUR )
Congratulations! WCU undergraduate nursing program ranked 1 st  out of 1,922 programs, with regard to pass rates in the United States among those who had 10 or more graduates take the National Council Licensing Examination (NCLEX-RN) from April through September 2018.
Junior Nursing students providing Heart Health class at the Coatesville Senior Center, representing Neighborhood Health, Penn Medicine. Group photo includes (L to R) back...Connor Williams, Emily Wieczek, Katie McKamey, Lauren Conner, George Ramon ( Coordinator at the CSC). (L to R sitting in front) Taylor Viscuso and Emily Resto.
Twenty undergraduate nursing students and 3 professors (Dr. Michelle Kensey, Dr. Marsha Welsh, and Dr. Nina Pulliam), went to South Africa on a service learning trip to provide maternal-newborn care to women and families in the Townships of Cape Town South Africa. The trip took place over winter break.
Nutrition ( NUT )
Congratulations! Dr. Patricia Davidson has been selected by a committee of peers for the Nutrition and Dietetic Educators and Preceptors (NDEP) South East Region Outstanding Dietetic Educator Award in the Didactic Program in Dietetics category for 2019.
Dr. Dara Dirhan’s students are in the process of preparing several teaching plans which will be presented at multiple community site partners in April. The partners include the WCU Resource Pantry, the West Chester Police Department, the Oscar Lasko YMCA, Bellingham Retirement Community, WestSide Community Center, and the Melton Center.

Dr. Christine Karpinski, Nutrition Department Chair, and her nutrition students have dedicated over 90 hours of volunteer work per semester providing our student-athletes with a nutrition education and fueling program to help our athletes maintain their competitive edge. This includes a working lab and research opportunities for nutrition students, as well as nutrition education and mobile fueling stations for our student-athletes, helping to provide them with the nutritional tools needed to be successful.  This semester, they’ve been working with men’s and women’s basketball, football, rugby, women’s lacrosse, and tennis teams.
Nutrition students prepared a special take away gift for participants in the "Convergence of Childhood Obesity and Hunger" symposium, co-sponsored by Cabrini University and WCU; Overnight Oatmeal! It was a big hit!
Sports Medicine ( SPM )
Congratulations! Sports Medicine professional master’s student Mike DeGaetano represented WCU at the Eastern Athletic Trainers’ Associations annual quiz bowl. Mike competed with 26 other students from various institutions throughout the northeast region and finished in third place. He will now represent the Eastern Athletic Trainers’ Association and WCU at the National Quiz Bowl this June in Las Vegas!
Nine WCU athletic training students had the opportunity to attend iLead in Dallas, Texas. T he event was designed for NATA Student Members to have an opportunity to participate in a fun, interactive environment with NATA Leaders to develop leadership skills. Students met athletic trainers from all over the country who work in various clinical settings. The two-day convention filled with educational and interactive guest speakers. Participating were MSAT second year students Mike DeGaetano, Karley Vahey, and Casey Lee; MSAT first year Melissa Klock; seniors Maddy Shaw, Connor Bense, Ryan Brooke, Joe Cleary, and Sports Medicine Studies undergraduate Abbie Verbeke.
ALUMNI SUPERHEROES
Sports Medicine alumni making us proud!
Kevin Hyland , '94 r ecently had the opportunity to save a young wrestler with his quick thinking. The young man's badly dislocated shoulder would ultimately create a blockage that could have resulted in the loss of the arm– or worse, were it not for Kevin's maintaining the arm's position to allow proper blood flow. "This injury was one that no one really could prepare for, however WCU trained me how to be ready for the unusual," K evin Hyland, ATC, LAT

Tracy Rarich, '08 is an athle tic trainer at Pope John Paul II High School. Last year, she saved a student in cardiac arrest during softball practice at Pope John Paul II High School in Royersford. When a 15-year-old student collapsed and went into cardiac arrest, Tracey jumped into action with CPR and the AED device and saved her life. Ms. Rarich will be honored at the upcoming "Simon's Soiree." Simon’s Fund is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to raising awareness about the warning signs and conditions that lead to sudden cardiac arrest and death in children

Dr. Kevin M. Guskiewicz, '89 has been named as interim chancellor of UNC-Chapel Hill. The appointment is effective immediately.“After widespread and helpful input, I strongly believe Kevin is the best person to lead UNC-Chapel Hill,” said Interim President Roper. “Kevin is an outstanding researcher, innovator, and strategic thinker, and I look forward to working with him over the coming months, along with the strong leadership team at Carolina, including the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees, the UNC Board of Governors, the faculty, staff and students, and the entire Carolina community. Together, we will grow and strengthen all that Carolina does to serve the state, region, and world.”
College of Health Sciences | West Chester University | 610-432-2825 | www.wcupa.edu/chs