Emory & Henry College School of Health Sciences Graduates 62 Students
On Saturday, August 15, 62 students at the School of Health Sciences (SHS) graduated with a Doctorate of Physical Therapy or a Masters of Physician Assistant Studies in a virtual ceremony.
This included the 2020 class of 32 Doctorate of Physical Therapy students and 30 Master of Physician Assistant Studies students. Graduates were from Canada and several states including California, Oregon, Washington, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, Wisconsin and Texas. Five Emory & Henry alumni were part of the graduating classes.
“I am very proud of all of the PT and PA students that make up this summer class of 2020,” says Louise Fincher, Vice President for the School of Health Sciences. “They successfully met the challenges of their extremely rigorous coursework and have now excelled in their clinical rotations. We continue to hear wonderful things from our preceptors on the quality of the E&H PA and PT students. These students are a shining example of the E&H mission in action.”
The keynote speakers for the commencement ceremonies were Dr. Sharon L. Dunn and Dr. Christopher Qualls.Dr. Dunn serves as the Dean of the School of Allied Health Professions and Professor of Physical Therapy at Louisiana State University Health Shreveport. Dr. Dunn is a Board Certified Specialist in Orthopaedic Physical Therapy. Throughout her physical therapy career, Dr. Dunn has been professionally engaged in efforts to promote public policies to enhance the public’s access to high quality health services and excellence in practice delivery. She currently serves as the president of the American Physical Therapy Association and has significant experience in health policy and collaborative approaches to health delivery.
Dr. Qualls is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Emory & Henry College and previously served as the Director of the Pre-Health program. As the former Vice President of Academic Affairs at Emory & Henry, Dr. Qualls played a pivotal role in helping to establish the vision for creating the School of Health Sciences and the impact the College could make on the delivery of healthcare in this region. Dr. Qualls has continued to be a strong supporter of the academic programs in the School of Health Sciences, and just recently joined the Department of PA Studies, where he teaches the PA behavioral medicine courses. In addition to his faculty role, Dr. Qualls maintains a clinical practice in Marion, VA, where he specializes in child and adolescent psychiatry.
The School of Health Sciences at Emory & Henry College was launched in 2014 with the goal of preparing compassionate, patient-centered, highly-skilled health care professionals who not only provide quality healthcare to their patients but also actively engage in leadership and service opportunities within their professional organizations and communities. The SHS includes three undergraduate programs (Exercise Science, Nursing RN to BSN and Pre-Health) housed primarily on the main campus and three graduate programs (Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy and Physician Assistant Studies) at the School of Health Sciences campus in Marion.
Open gallery
We continue to hear wonderful things from our preceptors on the quality of the E&H PA and PT students. These students are a shining example of the E&H mission in action.
- Louise Fincher, Vice President for the School of Health Sciences