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Professional Notes: January 2020

02/04/2020

A round-up of awards, presentations, papers and the other professional achievements of SLU faculty, staff and students. 

Faculty and Staff

Awards

Back row, from left) YWCA honorees Mary Drexl, Denise Pearson and Donna Bess Myers. (Front row, from left) YWCA honorees Mary Cook, Juliet Iwelunmor, Ph.D., and Asmira Alagic, Ph.D. Submitted photo

Back row, from left) YWCA honorees Mary Drexl, Denise Pearson and Donna Bess Myers. (Front row, from left) YWCA honorees Mary Cook, Juliet Iwelunmor, Ph.D., and Asmira Alagic, Ph.D. Submitted photo

Saint Louis University’s Women’s Commission honored six women at the annual YWCA Leaders in the Workplace Luncheon on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019, at the Saint Louis Union Station Hotel.

2019 Honorees

The YWCA has recognized the commitment and contributions of working women from the St. Louis area with its Leaders in the Workplace program since 1984. SLU recognizes its own women of achievement by participating in this event acknowledging how they have contributed to the growth and enrichment of both the University and the greater metropolitan community.

Honorees are nominated and selected based on their outstanding work performance; special talents; leadership qualities; outside activities; service to others; and other notable achievements or qualities.

At an audience with Pope Francis, Stephen Thaman, J.D., professor emeritus in the School of Law, received a lifetime achievement award in comparative criminal law, the Hans-Heinrich-Jescheck Preis Award.

The honor is awarded every five years by the International Association of Penal Law and the Max-Planck-Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law (Freiburg) for life achievement in the areas of international or comparative criminal law and procedure.

Riyadh Hindi, Ph.D. (right) works with graduate students in the concrete lab in McDonnell Douglas Hall. SLU photo

Riyadh Hindi, Ph.D. (right) works with graduate students in the concrete lab in McDonnell Douglas Hall. SLU photo

Riyadh Hindi, Ph.D., professor of civil engineering and associate dean of graduate education in Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology, was elected as a fellow of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) in recognition of his contributions to the associations work and mission.

Steve Schoenig, S.J., Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of History, was awarded the 2020 John Nicholas Brown Prize by the Medieval Academy of America for his book, Bonds of Wool: The Pallium and Papal Power in the Middle Ages (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2016).

The John Nicholas Brown Prize, established in 1978, is awarded annually for a first book or monograph on a medieval subject judged by the selection committee to be of outstanding quality.

SLU faculty members Ginge Kettenbach, Ph.D. (left) and Anthony Breitbach, Ph.D. (onscreen, left) receive the 2019 James H. Korn Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award. Submitted photo

SLU faculty members Ginge Kettenbach, Ph.D. (far right) and Anthony Breitbach, Ph.D. (onscreen, right) receive the 2019 James H. Korn Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award. Submitted photo

Two faculty members in the Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training in the Doisy College of Health Sciences, Anthony Breitbach, Ph.D., athletic training program director, and Ginge Kettenbach, Ph.D., professor in the Program in Physical Therapy, recently received Saint Louis University’s James H. Korn Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award.

Breitbach and Kettenbach were recognized for their contributions to research surrounding teaching and learning in the area of interprofessional studies. Their research crossed institutional boundaries and included Leslie Hinyard, Ph.D., from the SLU Center for Outcomes Research (SLUCOR) and former SLU faculty member Katie Eliot, Ph.D., now at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Hinyard and Eliot were also awarded the 2019 Korn Scholarship.

Ann Hayes, DPT, associate professor of physical therapy and athletic training, received the 2019 Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award.

This distinguished honor annually recognizes educators who are examples of excellence in their field.

Farzana Hoque, M.D.
Farzana Hoque, M.D.

Farzana Hoque, M.D., assistant professor of medicine, SLUCare physician and hospitalist at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital is the recipient of the “Young Achiever” award from the American College of Physicians (ACP). She previously received the award at the ACP’s national meetings in 2017 and 2018.

Hoque, a faculty member in the Section of Medicine has been invited to present her abstract, “A Hand Emergency, No Internist Can Afford to Miss',” at the American College of Physicians (ACP) 2020 National Conference held in Los Angeles on April 23. 

Appointments

Rebecca Harness has been named associate vice president and chief information security officer for Saint Louis University. In this role she is responsible for overseeing all information security operations including oversight of strategy and technologies that protect the University against cyber-attacks.

Rebecca has been working with SLU’s Information Technology Services (ITS) since August 2019 in an interim role.

Rebecca Harness
Rebecca Harness

Harness joins SLU with an impressive background in information security. She has an established career stretching more than 20 years in in information technology, with the past ten years primarily focused on information security and compliance.

An accomplished entrepreneur, Harness has founded and led two successful technology startups.

She serves as a board member for ISACA St. Louis, a nonprofit, independent association that advocates for more than 700 area professionals involved in information security, assurance, risk management and governance.

An alumnus of Hastings College, Harness is actively working towards her master’s degree in information security engineering from SANS Technology Institute and holds numerous technology and security certifications.

She reports to David Hakanson, vice president, CIO and chief innovation officer. Harness can be contacted by email or at 314-977-1115.

Presentations

Mary Jo Davenport, Ph.D., associate professor of physical therapy and athletic training, presented her research at the Annual Conference of the Academy of Pediatric Physical Therapy, part of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, in November 2019.

Davenport shared her knowledge expertise at this multi-day continuing education event to advance pediatric therapy.

Anthony Breitbach, Ph.D., athletic training program director, and Carol Beckel, Ph.D., associate professor of physical therapy and athletic training, will present an oral presentation at the National Academies of Practice (NAP) Annual Meeting and Forum, an inter-professional group of healthcare practitioners and scholars dedicated to supporting affordable, accessible, and coordinated quality healthcare for all in San Diego, California, in March.

Kim Levenhagen, DPT, associate professor of physical therapy and athletic training, will present a research poster with student Lauren Groszek at the American Physical Therapy Association's Combined Section Meeting in Denver in February.

Community Outreach

SLUCare Physicians demonstrate a dermatological technique (seated and standing figures at right) at an outreach event.

SLUCare physicians and staff demonstrate a dermatological technique at the Y-98 and KEZK's “New Year New You” Beauty Showcase in January. Submitted photo

SLUCare Cosmetic Services was the medical sponsor for Y-98 and KEZK's “New Year New You” Beauty Showcase event on Thursday Jan. 16. Faculty and staff members from the Departments of Surgery, Dermatology and Otolaryngology participated in the outreach event.

More than 150 attendees watched the demonstrations, talked with SLUCare faculty and staff at the practice’s information booths, sampled wine from Noboleis Vineyard and visited with the representatives from Allergan, Elta, Coolsculpting, Iredale, SkinCeuticals, Epionce, Evolus and Barcelo Hotel and Resorts. 

Demonstrations 

Service to the Field

Elissa Held Bradford, Ph.D., assistant professor of physical therapy and athletic training, has become chair of the Academy of Neurology Physical Therapy Health Promotion and Wellness Task Force, part of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) as of November 2019.

Held Bradford’s research areas include health promotion and health outcomes in neurodegenerative disease, neurorehabilitation, clinical reasoning and movement analysis.

Lisa Dorsey, Ph.D., associate professor of physical therapy and athletic training, has been selected as a member of the Task Force to Explore the Creation of an Excellence Recognition Model in physical therapy education by the American Council of Academic Physical Therapy (ACAPT).

Dorsey and the task force will explore the procedures and resources needed for ACAPT to put into place a recognition system able to assess applications from various academic programs pursuing excellence.

STUDENTS

Publications

Gregory S. Carr, a graduate student in the Department of American Studies, recently published a chapter, “Weathering the Winds of Change: The Sustainability of the St. Louis Black Repertory Company,” in The Routledge Companion to African American Theatre and Performance (New York: Routledge, 2019).

Conferences and Presentations

Student Lauren Groszek will present at the American Physical Therapy Association's Combined Section Meeting in Denver in February.