UM SOM: Department of Physical Therapy

Letter From Chair - Dr. Mary Rodgers

Our fall issue of the Proficio is dedicated to the memory of Florence Kendall who passed away earlier this year.  As her academic home since the inception of our program, we miss her tremendously.  We were honored that several of her family members were able to attend our graduation pre-commencement ceremony where we presented to them the  plaque that now adorns the Kendall Conference Room in our building. This was the first pre-commencement in many years that we were without Florence who, when introduced, would stand up and acknowledge the inevitable standing ovation with her big wonderful smile. 
We have an annual Kendall Symposium in October of each year which has featured such guest speakers as Ben Massey the president of the APTA and author Jackie Pflug.  This year we will be celebrating a special "Kendall Day" on October 13th  honoring Florence and continuing celebration of our 50th anniversary year.  Exciting events planned for the day include a free continuing education seminar, shared memories by friends and family and class reunions!

This has been a busy year for the Department as we prepared for our accreditation site visit that took place at the end of June.  Many thanks to all of those who worked so hard on gathering the self study materials and to those who met with our site visitors.  It was a nice opportunity to show others what a fine program we have. We look forward to receiving the final report at the end of this year. 

Congratulations to our students who won honorable mention in the Pitt-Marquette Challenge!  They were recognized at the annual APTA meeting in June.

We also want to acknowledge two outstanding faculty members (Kathy Davis and Vickie Moerchen) who are moving on to new opportunities.  They will be missed!   

Hard to believe we are ending our 50th anniversary celebration this year.  We have Open House on September 30th, and a grand finale celebration in December.  Check out our new website for details.  Hope to see you at the events!

Mary M. Rodgers, PT, PhD
George R. Hepburn Dynasplint Professor and Chair

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