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Welcome to the Fontaine C. Piper Movement Analysis Laboratory Dedication Ceremnoy!

After a successful three-year fundraising campaign, Truman State University is ready to showcase its new lab, located in Truman’s new Health Sciences Building Room 1212.  The Piper lab gives HES students the ability to obtain three-dimensional data with an infrared system, thus providing state-of-the-art, highly accurate kinematic analyses.  Students will be better prepared for careers in physical therapy, prosthetics and orthotics, orthopedic medicine, podiatry, personal training, athletic training, and occupational therapy.

 

Camden Stockton has accepted an MIAA Internship in Kansas City, MO.  His responsibilities will include administration of conference championships; development of conference marketing materials; rules-compliance; working with the MIAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee; working with the Director of Communications; and other duties as assigned by the MIAA staff.  The internship will begin in January and last until June, 2012.  Congratulations, Camden!

 

 

Students from HLTH 150 Nutrition for Health & Wellness unloaded a semi-trailer of food at the Salvation Army Food Bank on September 26, 2011.  As a continuation of this class’ efforts to reduce food insecurity and hunger in Adair County,  they will sponsor a food drive October 17-23, 2011.  There will be tables on campus requesting monetary and food donations during that week, staffed by the HLTH 150 students and Health Science majors.  On Saturday and Sunday, October 22-23, 2011, the students in HLTH 150 will have tables at the Hy-Vee Food Store requesting food donations and money to support the Salvation Army Food Bank in Kirksville.  Individual students, campus organizations, faculty, and staff are encouraged to support this food drive.

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/fitness/article_b5649ba6-9c05-5fbd-9330-50ea5e00e138.html

“Linda and Gary Hansen came to speak to my Occupational Therapy class at Washington University in St. Louis about burns this summer. Gary had been burned while in his car and had to have several surgeries on his face for the burns. They helped to improve the burn support group here in St. Louis and they began the Missouri Children’s Burn Camp. At the end of their presentation, Linda mentioned that she needed more counselors for the camp. I decided to go. I can’t even express or describe how absolutely AMAZING that experience was!! I learned SO much while I was there and met so many amazing people. The outlook on life of those campers truly inspire me. The camp is held at Camp Sabra campground in the Lake of the Ozarks. It is wonderful and there are SO many activities there. I even faced my (big) fear of heights and walked across a bridge with missing planks about 40-50 feet in the air!– it was SO scary but I was moved to do it. I returned from camp yesterday and I woke up today feeling great and with an even better outlook on life than I had before the camp. It was so touching and everyone there is like a big family. There were also two campers from Peru who were invited to come who only spoke Spanish. One of the campers was in my cabin. I was with her the majority of the week and helped to translate for her, especially when she was trying to speak to other campers. The St. Louis Post Dispatch actually came and wrote a story on those two campers while we were there and went into the Sunday paper yesterday. I’m glad that happened so that more people can read/learn about this amazing camp. I hope to do more work with them in the future as a counselor, as well as help them to write grants because this camp is privately funded to provide a free camp experience to burn victims. Wonderful, wonderful~~ I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to be there.”

-From a former Truman student,

Jackie Goff, BHS, CHES, MSOT/S  ’12
Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
Program in Occupational Therapy

 

Christina Sancken will be serving as a Community Health Promoter for the Peace Corps Community Health project in Peru from September 15, 2011 to November 24, 2013.  The purpose of the Community Health project is that community members living in rural communities will have improved health conditions through adopting healthy lifestyle practices.  As a CHP (and most likely the only American in my community), she will be collaborating with NGOs, local health posts, educational institutions, and community groups to help achieve the goals of the Peace Corps Community Health project.

Sustainability is one of the most important aspects of this program.  In order to create sustainable practices and programs, she will spend a significant amount of her time dedicated to needs assessments, teaching, training, and evaluations for different groups of community members on nutrition, proper hygiene, and disease prevention.

Senior Health Science major Margaret Loehnig took a trip during the summer of 2011 to Cape Town, South Africa, along with 20 other Truman students. The trip was one aspect of a course entitled Democracy and Human Rights in South Africa, led by sociology professor Dr. Elaine McDuff. In Cape Town, Margaret completed an internship at Maitland Cottage Home (MCH). MCH is an inpatient pediatric orthopedic hospital in which children may receive surgery for numerous conditions affecting their bones, including (but not limited to) leg length discrepancies, Blount’s, cerebral palsy, clubfoot, tuberculosis of the joints and/or spine, hip disorders, and fractures due to motor vehicle accidents. The children then recover in the wards and receive schooling and physical therapy.
Margaret’s job as an intern was to observe the work of the physical therapist, assisting whenever possible. She learned how to measure crutches for the patients, became familiar with several assistive devices that may be used in therapeutic settings, and observed the stretches the physical therapist performed with the patients. She also had the unique opportunity to help doctors put plaster casts on patients with clubfeet.
Margaret’s favorite part of the experience was interacting with the children at MCH. “They treated me as a playmate, teacher, and physical therapist combined, and I learned just as much from them as they learned from me. Most of the children were barely discouraged by their physical disabilities; they approached all challenges with energy and dignity. Even in the moments when they were being naughty or bossing me around, the children at MCH never failed to put a smile on my face. On my last day, they all wrote me letters and drew me pictures. It was painful to say goodbye.”

Abbie Smith, PhD, CSCS joined the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, as an assistant professor in July, 2011. Dr. Smith completed her undergraduate degree from Truman State University (Kirksville, MO) in Health and Exercise Sciences, and she completed her graduate work in Exercise Physiology from the University of Oklahoma (Norman, OK; MA and PhD), where she served as the coordinator of the Metabolic and Body Composition Laboratory.
Abbie’s research interests center around exercise and nutrition interventions to modify various aspects of body composition, cardiovascular health, and metabolic function in obese, elderly, and women. She is an active researcher in the field of sport nutrition and exercise performance, in both young and old athletes. Some of her primary work has focused on beta-alanine, creatine, and proteins/amino acids. She is also interested in applied aspects of neuromuscular fatigue.
Dr. Smith is an active member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN). Abbie also contributes to the field through many peer-reviewed manuscripts, scholastic book chapters and multiple International and National presentations.

As part of a 5-week special topics course in exercise science this summer, 8 students accompanied Dr. Jennifer Hurst on an eleven day field excursion trip to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in Wyoming. While in the parks the class did several hikes, including some students who hiked 18 miles roundtrip through Cascade Canyon to 9200 foot high Solitude Lake where there was still 5 feet of snow on the ground! Students also whitewater rafted on the Snake River and completed a one day rock climbing instruction course where they learned repelling and belaying skills.  Other activities included a tour of the National Museum of Wildlife Art, wildlife watching at dawn, and learning about Leave No Trace Principles while in nature. The group tent-camped while in the parks and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each other around the camp fire. The focus of the course was using physical activity to explore the students’ relationship with nature and learning about the National Parks from a multidisciplinary perspective. Each student developed a creative project that represented their relationship with nature using pictures, video and journal writings they collected during the field excursion. This summer marked the first offering of this course and Dr. Hurst looks forward to offering it again next summer.

Videos of the adventure can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEIj9fOxH8w and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ5ZB-MG2Jo&feature=player_detailpage

(From gocolgateraiders.com) HAMILTON, N.Y. (5/4/11) – Colgate University Director of Athletics David Roach introduced Nicci Hays Fort today (Wednesday, May 4) at a press conference. Hays Fort becomes the ninth head coach of the Colgate women’s basketball program, after spending the past five seasons as an assistant coach at DePaul University (2006-11). She served as the associate head coach for the Blue Demons during the 2010-11 season.

Hays Fort helped guide the Blue Demons to five NCAA Tournaments and combined for an 112-54 record. Last season DePaul advanced in the NCAA Tournament to the Sweet 16 for the second time in program history, the first time since 2006. The team finished 29-7 overall and ranked in the top-10 of the national polls. The 29 wins were the most by any team in DePaul’s history.

Hays Fort has also helped mentor 14 All-BIG EAST performers, while numerous student-athletes have been honored for their academic achievements in the classroom.

Before joining the staff at DePaul, Hays Fort served as the head coach at Barry University in Miami Shores, Fla., from 2002-06. After taking over the NCAA Division II program at Barry in 2002, she coached seven All-Sunshine State Conference selections, the 2004 SSC Freshman of the Year, and three other all-freshmen picks. She had 10 student-athletes named to the SSC Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll. She recruited Rebecca Segert, who became the leading rebounder and scorer with over 2,000 points at the US Merchant Marine Academy.

The Monroe City, Mo. native served as an assistant coach at Nicholls State University for two seasons from 2000-02 and was the first head coach at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy during the 1999-00 campaign.

As a student-athlete, Hays Fort was a two-sport letterwinner in basketball and softball at Truman State University (Mo.) before finishing her career at Culver-Stockton College (Mo.). She earned a bachelor of science in psychology and a minor in mathematics from Culver-Stockton in 1998. Hays averaged 4.1 points and 1.8 assists on the basketball court before moving to the diamond and hitting .300 as a shortstop at Culver-Stockton.

In addition to her coaching duties at Barry, Hays Fort was also the assistant compliance coordinator. She is married to Gregg Fort, who is Assistant Vice President for University Advancement at DePaul University.

Along with her on-the-court activities with the Blue Demons, Hays Fort is also involved with Habitat for Humanity, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the American Heart Association Jump Rope for Heart and Misericordia. She has been a member of the Women’s Sports Foundation since 2000 and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association since 1998.

A scholarship fund honoring Sam Minner, the outgoing Dean of the School of Health Sciences and Education, and his wife Joan has been established at the Truman State University Foundation.

Minner joined Truman in 2000 as Division Head and Professor of Education. He was named Dean of the School of Health Sciences and Education in 2007 and headed programs in elementary, secondary and special education, school counseling, health science, exercise science, athletic training, nursing, advanced placement, professional development and the regional professional development center.

Minner has been named provost at Radford University in Radford, Va., and will begin his new duties this summer.

To contribute to the Sam and Joan Minner Scholarship fund, please contact the Truman State University Foundation at 785.4133.