Director’s Column
Posted: June 5, 2014
TAMARA C. VALOVICH MCLEOD, PHD, ATC. FNATA
Athletic Training Program Director
On behalf of all of the AT faculty, I hope this annual newsletter finds you doing well. This has been a year of big change for the AT program and we are excited for what the future holds. This July, the AT program will be starting its 20th year. This August, we’ll graduate our 18th class, and those 10 students will join a group of 196 SHC and AT alumni! Next year, the program will be home to 20 full-time AT students, as we welcome 11 new students into the class of 2016.
As most of you are aware Dr. Parsons moved on to the next phase of his career and joined the NCAA in January. We wish him luck in his new position! I have been honored to move into the program director role after over 11 years as a faculty member within the AT program and will aim to continue the excellent tradition of education, service, and research on which this program was built. We were fortunate to hire Dr. Cailee Welch into a faculty position in February, after she completed a post-doctoral fellowship in clinical outcomes. She has already started to make significant contributions to the program.
We are excited to launch a new program, the Doctor of Athletic Training, in January 2015. This innovative online program aims to produce clinical and academic leaders to advance the athletic training profession. The program is designed to develop students’ expertise in orthopaedic rehabilitation, clinical decision-making and professional leadership and will be a great avenue for those of you considering expanding your knowledge and continuing your education.
The AT Program will be well represented at the NATA meeting in Indianapolis. A program high of 27 abstracts were submitted by AT students or faculty. Of those, 26 were accepted for oral or poster presentation, for an acceptance rate of over 96%! We congratulate Travis Williams and Matt Corvo (class of 2013) who are finalists for the Master’s Student Poster competition. We are hoping they can follow in the footsteps of Stephanie Kulow (class of 2013) who won the Master’s Student Poster competition last year.
As you will see in this newsletter, the ATSA had another excellent year of service, education, and outreach, under the leadership of Kelsey Picha (class of 2014), Michelle Weber (class of 2014), Suzie Aparicio (class of 2014), Josie Harding, (class of 2015), and Melissa Kay (class of 2015). This past year, the ATSA was integral in the success of a campus-wide sports medicine club that included students from most programs on the Mesa campus. They developed a series of 4 lectures, in which they shared their expertise on a variety of topics including, components of sideline coverage, emergency action plans, sudden cardiac death, and concussion. In addition, the ATSA continued to partner with Mesa Youth Sports, providing education and outreach at several events within the East Valley.
We would like to thank Kevin Messey, MS, ATC (class of 2001) and Greg Janik, MS, ATC (class of 2000) for their service to the ASHS Alumni Board and look forward to having new ideas brought to the board by our incoming representatives (Thad Walker, ’03 and Sarah Piebes, ’08).
Serving on the ASHS alumni chapter is not the only way to support the program. First, we simply ask that if you’ve moved recently or have just fallen out of touch that you take the time to renew your relationship to the Program and to the University. Just visit the ATSU Alumni page at http://www.atsu.edu/alumni for more information on how to do that.
Second, please consider providing your financial support to the Dwight Patterson Youth Sports Scholarship. This scholarship is the primary fundraising target for the program. It is reserved for current athletic training students whose research or leadership activities involve youth sports safety. This year, we awarded our 4th annual scholarship in the amount of $1,000 to Michelle Weber (Class of 2014).
If you are interested in making a donation to the scholarship, please visit: www.atsu.edu/gift
Your gift should be directed to the Dwight Patterson Youth Sports scholarship fund. Additional information about the scholarship and opportunities to donate will be available at the alumni reception in Indianapolis. We appreciate your support!
Lastly, please join us at the alumni reception on Thursday June 26 from 7-10pm at Tavern on South, Second Floor – 423 W. South Street, Indianapolis, IN 46225. If you did not receive the RSVP, please contact our alumni office at alumniaz@atsu.edu.
Remember, the ATSU Athletic Training Program has a Facebook page. “Like” us at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/ATSU-Athletic-Training-Program/49842899360
Looking forward to catching up with you in Indianapolis!
Tamara