Elon University leaders conferred degrees Sunday on 38 candidates in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program.
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Elon University’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program graduated its Class of 2012 on Sunday in Whitley Auditorium as one of the profession’s most esteemed leaders encouraged the new physical therapists to meet the challenges and demands of a changing medical landscape.
Robert Charles Bartlett, a professor emeritus at Duke University who currently serves as an adjunct professor of Physical Therapy Education at Elon, gave a Commencement address where he said the introduction of new technology, health care and health insurance changes mandated by the federal government, and the oncoming wave of Baby Boomers will present opportunities for physical therapists to revolutionize their field in the years ahead.
Bartlett served as the chairman for the Department of Physical and Occupational Therapy at Duke University until 1998 and has remained clinically active since then working with the pediatric population with a focus on children with multiple disabilities. He was president of the American Physical Therapy Association from 1976-79 and has received multiple awards for his work.
The ceremony included the presentation of the Distinguished Alumnus Award to M. Dyer Diehl, an assistant professor at Krannert School of Physical Therapy at the University of Indianapolis. After graduating from Elon University’s Master of Physical Therapy program in 2001, he entered clinical practice at Cumberland County Health Care System. From 2003 until 2007, he attended Virginia Commonwealth University where he obtained his Ph.D.
During the five years since joining the faculty at the University of Indianapolis, he has given more than a dozen peer-reviewed presentations and has published five peer-reviewed articles. His research has focused on exercise and quality of life for persons with Parkinson’s disease.
University President Leo M. Lambert closed the program with a charge to graduates in which he told them to “hold your lamps high” as they “bring light to darkened places” with the core values an Elon education represents – a commitment to excellence in all things, a passion for a life of learning, personal integrity in all aspects of daily life, a respect for human difference, and an ethic of work and service.
“The superiority of this physical therapy program is a point of pride for the entire university,” Lambert said. “Through your work you will leave a lasting impact on the quality of health care in comunities all over this nation. I can not think of a more worthwhile legacy.”
2012 DPT honorees:
Outstanding Student Award: Christina Leigh Ridenour
Outstanding Clinical Performance Award: Yvonne Ranieri LaDouceur
Outstanding Research Award: Lisa Marie Brindley
Outstanding Clinical Instructor Award: Thomas A. Hetherington
Candidates for the Doctor of Physical Therapy Degree
Jenné Marie Assard
B.S., Coastal Carolina University
Christopher George Backus
B.S., Appalachian State University
Laura L. Baldwin
B.S., Morehead State University
Christopher W. Boettcher
B.S., Concordia University Wisconsin
Lisa Marie Brindley
B.S., Alma College
Janaye Lanique Bryant
B.S., North Carolina Central University
Whitney Randall Bugh
B.S., Clemson University
Jordan Daniel Busse
B.S., Concordia University Wisconsin
Elaine R. Castle
B.S., Furman University
James Quinlon Curtis
B.S., Towson University
Michelle T. Cusack
B.S., Saint Joseph’s College of Maine
Benjamin Carter Fisher
B.F.A., Ohio Wesleyan University
Sara Christine Fleming
B.S., Barton College
Sara Elizabeth Galligan
B.S., Virginia Tech
Margret Elizabeth Gardner
B.S., North Carolina State University
Lauren Elizabeth Butler Gossett
B.S., North Carolina State University
Nicole Marie Grates
B.S., Furman University
Christine E. Herzog
B.S., University of Michigan
Yvonne Ranieri LaDouceur
B.S., The University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Erin L. Leonard
B.S., The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Brittany Marchyl Linscott
B.S., Armstrong Atlantic State University
Joshua David Locke
B.S., University of Texas at Brownsville
Meredith McCormick Marlowe
B.A., Appalachian State University
Ryan George Mason
B.S., The University of North Carolina at Asheville
Colin Kenneth McGowan
B.S., Pennsylvania State University
M.S., Syracuse University
William H. Nutt II
B.S., Concord University
Ashley Ann Oke
B.A., The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Sara Elizabeth Prokup
B.S., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Katie Ann Reynolds
B.S., North Carolina State University
R. Aislinn H. Rhodes
B.S., University of Georgia
Christina Leigh Ridenour
B.A., Muskingum University
Byanka Lyzette Rosa
B.S., Angelo State University
David Bryan Sutton
B.S., Greensboro College
Caylen Coles Thomas
B.S., The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Nicole Marie VanWagenen
B.S., North Carolina State University
Alex Michael Wernikoff
B.S., Elon University
Leah Clark Wilhelmsen
B.A., Dominican College
Weston Paul Wise
B.A., Minnesota State University Moorhead