February 2023 Dean's Message

Dear CHP alumni and friends:

Happy New Year! I hope that the holiday season allowed you to spend time with family and friends and time to reflect on 2022. I am certainly proud of the work that we accomplished here at CHP in 2022 and look forward to many more exciting things to come in 2023. Much of our success is due to the hard work that our students, faculty and staff put in and I’m pleased to share a few of them who have been recognized within our university and beyond.

First, join me in congratulating our stellar faculty and staff members who were recognized by their peers and students this past December at our annual Staff and Faculty awards ceremony. These are all so well-deserved. Congratulations!

• Excellence in Service Award – Dr. Cindy Dodds
• Scholar of the Year Award – Dr. Michelle Woodbury
• Developing Scholar of the Year Award – Dr. Sara Knox
• Developing Teacher of the Year Award – Dr. Scott Hutchison
• Development Teacher of the Year Award – Dr. Brian Gegel
• Teacher of the Year Award – Dr. Mandie Sammons
• Team of the Year Award – Finance
• Staff of the Year Award – Chad Higgins
• Core Value Award Winners – Amy Heckle, Camden Jacobs, Justin Muir, Beth Romaine

We’ve also had faculty, staff and students share their projects and knowledge with the larger academic community. We are proud to have them represent CHP.

• Dr. Cristina Smith, Dr. Mark Bowden and Lauren Fogelgren provided the keynote presentation about holistic admissions to the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education in Atlanta, Georgia in October.
• Healthcare Studies student, Wendy Shumpert, won second place for the Health Humanities Award during MUSC Student Research Day. Wendy’s project was titled Using Adult Learning Characteristics and the Humanities to Teach Undergraduate Health Care Students about Social Determinants of Health: Data and Lessons Learned from Photograph Essays.
• Dr. Michelle Woodbury and Jul Laura were featured in the top telehealth story of 2022 by SCETV for their work in telerehabilitation in stroke recovery.

The start of 2023 brought us several new faculty leaders. We are excited to welcome them to CHP and look forward to the difference they will make in the college through their expertise and leadership.

• Dr. Megan Donaldson began in January as the new chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences. She comes to us from Tufts University School of Medicine where she served as the founding program director for their hybrid DPT program.
• Kimberly Foil and Libby Malphrus have both officially joined as the first two faculty members for the Division of Genetic Counseling.

Several of our faculty members have been recognized by professional organizations for their contributions to their fields. Congratulations to all!

• Dr. Lauren Gellar has been recognized as the MLK Humanitarian Award recipient. This award is presented to someone who has made significant contributions in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion on their campus or in the community.
• Two of our Occupational Therapy faculty members have been recognized as AOTA 2023 award recipients. Dr. Roxanna Bendixen has been awarded the Outstanding Mentor Award. Dr. Cristina Smith has been inducted into the Roster of Fellows.

Lastly, I hope that many of you in the Jacksonville, Florida area will plan to join us this week for our Jacksonville regional reception. You can register here. We’re excited to be able to be together in person more in 2023 and this is just the first of many opportunities.