Students, Faculty, Residents, Staff, Alumni, Board Members and Friends,
Greetings from our beautiful Elkin Park campus. While this has been another short week, it’s also been a busy week on campus between practical examinations, practice for national boards and all the labs, clinics and classes that have been going on. In addition to all that, here’s some more great information about some of our staff and activities happening around campus:
LOOKING OUT FOR KIDS: We’re closing in on the date for Salus University’s 14th annual “Looking Out for Kids” fundraiser, which will be held virtually at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, May 1. This year’s event will honor TD Bank as the “Lighthouse Award” winner. Once again, NBC10 News anchor Rosemary Connors will host the event. To purchase virtual tickets or VIP reception boxes online, visit here.
DEI COMMITTEE RESTRUCTURING: Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee is undergoing a restructuring. Dr. Juliana Mosley-Williams, the University’s special assistant to the president for DEI, is accepting applications from those who would like to serve on the committee. It will consist of 15 members from across the University to ensure diverse and inclusive representation. The three colleges will have a student and faculty representative (six members). Additionally, several areas have been suggested for possible member representation for the remaining seven members. Dr. Mosley-Williams will serve as chair and I will serve as an ex-officio member. All committee members will be expected to serve a two-year term, and may serve for one additional term. Please contact Dr. Mosley-Williams for details on how to apply.
FACULTY FOCUS: This week’s Faculty Focus is on Kenneth Newton, CCC-SLP. Ken is known affectionately in the Speech-Language Pathology department as “Zen Ken” because he likes to remind students to relax and breathe while they navigate the challenges of graduate school. Read more about Ken here.
SPRING COMMENCEMENT KEYNOTE SPEAKER: I am extremely happy to announce that Congresswoman Madeleine Dean has agreed to be the keynote speaker for our Spring Commencement ceremony. Congressman Dean has focused on decency and the common good throughout her years in public service. She has worked to address issues that affect all of us, including stopping gun violence and guaranteeing health care for all. I had the opportunity to talk with the Congresswoman last week and I’m certain that her message will resonate with all of us.
SALUS SUPERSTAR: We sadly bid farewell recently to a Salus superstar, Donna Agnew, MSPAS, PA-C, DFAAPA, director of the University’s Physician Assistant (PA) Studies program, who has taken on a new challenge at the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). Donna’s leadership and expertise has resulted in this program becoming one of the leading PA programs in the country. Thank you for all you have done for Salus, Donna. We wish you all the success and will miss you. In Donna’s absence Mr. Dan Pavlik will serve as the interim director of the program. Read more about Donna’s farewell here.
SALUS SUPERSTAR, TAKE 2: We also recently said goodbye to Francine Pearlman-Storch, OD ‘79, Resident ‘80, who retired after more than 40 years in the Clinical Skills lab at Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University. Read more about her career and the farewell ceremony we had for Dr. Pearlman-Storch here.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW: This week’s Where Are They Now features Arieneh Tahmasian, OD ‘17. The training in pediatrics and traumatic brain injuries she received at PCO/Salus made her an appealing addition to a practice in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Read more about Dr. Tahmasian here.
FINAL THOUGHTS: While I was walking around campus this morning, watching all the activity, I was struck by what the campus looked like 13 months ago. We were about 2 weeks into the pandemic, not knowing what was to come next. I went back to look at the Weekly Update I wrote that week to get a sense of what we might have been thinking at that time. Governor Wolf had just closed all K-12 schools until the end of the academic year, we were beginning our plans to return to clinics and labs, if permitted, and continuing with virtual classes. What a difference 13 months makes.
We’ve been through what, hopefully, has been the worst of the pandemic. Thanks to the new, miraculous, careful development of highly safe and effective vaccines being deployed regionally and nationally, unless things change, we are anticipating a “normal” Fall semester opening. This means we’ll have in-person classes, labs and clinics for all programs. Since getting vaccinated is such an important part of getting back to normal, I strongly encourage all of you to get vaccinated. These vaccines have been developed with over 10 years of research and close scrutiny. They are safe and proving to be extremely effective. It’s truly amazing, that after a very slow start, almost half of our country has received at least one dose of the two dose vaccines and the deployment is accelerating over time (see chart below).
Even with all this good news, as I’ve reminded you before, now is not the time to let our guard down. There are still variants of the virus in our area that are more contagious and potentially more deadly. Please continue to wear your double face mask when around others, socially distance and wash your hands frequently. Once fully vaccinated (two weeks following your last vaccine dose), you can meet in small groups at home or other places with others who have also been fully vaccinated, without a mask. We are not relaxing our mask or social distance requirements on campus since not everyone is vaccinated.
I hope you all get out and enjoy some of this nice spring weather this weekend. It’s only going to get nicer as the weeks roll by. As you do get out and about, please continue to follow all of the CDC guidelines to stay safe, stay healthy and remain SALUS STRONG!
Mike
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