Spalding University’s Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Leadership Program, in partnership with Ignite Louisville and Young Professionals Association of Louisville (YPAL), welcomes the public to the launch of the Abramson Leadership Exchange – a series of executive panel discussions moderated by former Mayor Jerry Abramson and featuring leaders from public-sector, corporate and nonprofit organizations.

The first Abramson Leadership Exchange discussion will be held 9-11 a.m., Saturday, March 2 at Spalding’s Egan Leadership Center. The topic will be crisis management and communication, and the panelists will include Chad Carlton, President of C2 Strategic Communications; Laura Douglas, retired Vice President of Corporate Responsibility and Community Affairs for LG&E and KU Energy; Phil Lynch, retired Vice President and Director of Corporate Communications at Brown-Forman; and Thomas Noland, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications for Humana.

Audience members will have an opportunity to ask question to the panelists and Abramson, who now serves as Spalding’s Executive in Residence.

The event is free and open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis, but because space is limited, attendees must register online on the Abramson Leadership Exchange: Crisis Management event page or at spalding.edu/edd under the EVENTS label. Coffee, donuts and free parking next to the building will be provided.

REGISTER FOR THE ABRAMSON LEADERSHIP EXCHANGE ON MARCH 2

“We want to give folks some real-life insight into why and how leaders in a variety of fields make the kind of decisions that they do for their organizations,” Abramson said. “Our panelists have high-level experience participating in the process of decision-making that required them to take into account budgetary considerations, safety concerns, politics and public relations, as well as the interests of a wide range of stakeholders.”

Future sessions of the Abramson Leadership Exchange are scheduled for Aug. 3 and Nov. 9. Topics for the other 2019 sessions will also be related to media and communication.

“The thoughtful conversations that will take place through the Abramson Leadership Exchange align with the kind of dialogue and sharing of ideas that are a key component of Spalding’s Ed.D.: Leadership Program,” said Dr. Linda LaPinta, director of the doctoral program. “Mayor Abramson is one of the most experienced and respected leaders in our state, and this is a fantastic opportunity for current and aspiring leaders from all sorts of organizations to engage with him and these distinguished panelists.”

LEARN MORE ABOUT SPALDING’S DOCTORAL PROGRAM IN LEADERSHIP

Abramson has been in his role at Spalding since last spring. He serves as a guest lecturer for undergraduate and graduate courses, helps develop programs such as a continuing-education certificate for city and county managers, and represents the university in the community.

Nicknamed “Mayor for Life” for having served five total terms as the leader of Louisville’s city government before and after its merger with Jefferson County, Abramson has also served as Kentucky’s Lieutenant Governor and as Deputy Assistant to President Obama and the White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs.

About Spalding’s Ed.D.: Leadership Program: Spalding’s doctoral degree in Leadership is a terminal degree designed for senior or mid-management organizational leaders. The program prepares students with the knowledge, skill and evidence-based practice to impact policies and advance for-profit and not-for-profit businesses and educational organizations. The program has numerous community and global partners. The Ed.D. in Leadership is well-suited for individuals with careers in business, health care, social services, the arts, education and more. Additional information is available at spalding.edu/edd

About Young Professionals Association of Louisville (YPAL): YPAL provides leadership development, educational opportunities and philanthropic support to Louisville’s Young Professionals for the benefit of the local community. The mission of YPAL is to connect, engage and develop metro Louisville’s young professionals through community, professional and social opportunities. Additional information is available at ypal.org

About Ignite Louisville: Ignite Louisville, a program of the Leadership Louisville Center, prepares high-potential professionals, typically between 25-45 years old, for expanded opportunities in career and community leadership. Offered twice a year, Ignite Louisville is a six-month life-changing personal and professional development experience that produces the skills, confidence, problem-solving abilities and connections essential to realizing leadership potential. Participants gain hands-on experience in civic leadership and working effectively as a team through the Ignite Louisville Challenge. They also gain heightened visibility within the community. Additional information is available at www.leadershiplouisville.org/ignite-louisville

One privilege of being a student in Spalding’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program is that I can attend some of the lectures of the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program during its residencies. During the MFA fall residency, which took place Nov. 10-18, I attended two lectures.

The first was titled, “1798: Poetry’s Punk Moment: Lyrical Ballads With A Few Other Poems,” and was given by MFA program director Kathleen Driskell, who is an award-winning poet. The lecture was very relevant to me at the time because I was taking a Romanticism class during which we studied many of the poems that were mentioned in Driskell’s lecture. It was exciting for me to hear the information I learned as a BFA creative writing student being applied in an MFA lecture. Attending the lecture made me appreciate my BFA class even more because I could see the value of what I was learning. The “punk” aspect of the lecture was taken from a quote by a Guardian book reviewer and referred to the influential and liberal language used by poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge during the age of Romanticism. Wordsworth and Coleridge were essentially hippies or punks because of the way they looked at the world differently.

LEARN MORE | Spalding’s BFA in Creative Writing program

LEARN MORE | Spalding’s MFA in Creative Writing program

The second lecture I attended was, “What Happened to My Essay? How to Survive Writing for Magazines,” by Cathy Medwick. Medwick is former senior editor at Vogue and Vanity Fair, so she really knew what she was talking about. This lecture was very informative — I took a full page of notes. Even though I am fairly new to creative nonfiction and have not written very many essays that could be published, I found it valuable to hear how to deal with editors and the process of submission.

ALSO FROM ALLISON CAMPBELL | Why transferring to Spalding was the right choice for me

Being able to participate in the MFA residency was a great way to learn new information while being exposed to what an MFA program is really like. The experience made me want to go to grad school even more to further my education. I am always looking for ways to improve my writing, so I really appreciated this awesome opportunity.

Allison Campbell is a senior in Spalding’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program.

Dr. Steve Katsikas, Chair of Spalding’s School of Professional Psychology, was named the Kentucky Psychological Association’s Psychologist of the Year earlier this month.

“It’s really humbling because there are so many amazing psychologists that are part of this state association,” Katsikas said. “For them to say that I did a good job and that they appreciate what I do is super meaningful.”

Katsikas was also elected to become the next president of the KPA, starting in 2020.

Katsikas, who has been at Spalding for 12 years, received the KPA award on Friday, Nov. 2, at the KPA Annual Convention in Lexington. He was recognized for his contributions to teaching and training.

Katsikas has overseen a doctor of clinical psychology (PsyD) program that has received millions in federal grants allocated to student scholarships and stipends. Two current grants through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) are used to provide scholarships for doctoral students from disadvantaged backgrounds who have financial need and to award stipends to PsyD students who provide behavioral health services at primary care sites that serve medically underserved populations.

Under Katsikas, the PsyD program has achieved student internship match rates of 100 and 97 percent in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Katsikas is also the founder of Spalding’s Center for Behavioral Health – an on-campus clinic started in 2015 that offers a range of assessment and therapy services for all ages while also serving as a training ground for PsyD students.

Katsikas credited the entire faculty and staff of the School of Professional Psychology for making Spalding’s programs what they are, and he said the grant-writing staff of Spalding’s Office of Advancement played a key role in helping secure the highly competitive HRSA funding. He said former CBH director Virginia Frazier and current director Norah Chapman and associate director Steven Kniffley deserve credit for the growth of that clinic.

“Everything I’ve been able to accomplish has been because of the team and the teams that I work with,” Katsikas said. “I’ve really done nothing on my own. I have an amazing faculty who are dedicated to teaching and training. … There’s an old saying that if you want to go fast, go by yourself. If you want to go far, go with a team. And we’ve gone far because we have a really good team.”

Katsikas said Spalding’s faculty is made up of “stellar psychologists” who could be working anywhere in the country in any kind of professional setting.

“And they choose to work at Spalding to train the next generation of psychologists,” he said. “That’s pretty cool.”

Before coming to Spalding, Katsikas was the Director of Child and Adolescent Psychology at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, and he also served as Director of Training for that institution’s post-doctoral fellowship program in clinical psychology. Katsikas earned his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Arkansas.

He was not the only Spalding faculty member honored at the KPA convention. Kniffley, a Spalding SOPP alumnus and current assistant professor, received an award for multicultural professional development.

Find out more about the undergraduate and post-graduate programs of Spalding’s School of Professional Psychology at spalding.edu/psychology

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While dozens of graduates from Spalding University Auerbach School of Occupational Therapy work in and around Louisville, many other alumni have found jobs across the country that they said pay well and are personally fulfilling. Here, we highlight one of them, Clarissa Tenido Perry, who works at the Villa Pueblo Skilled Nursing and Rehab Center in Pueblo, Colorado.

Clarissa Tenido Perry, a native of Hawaii who attended high school in West Virginia, got job offers in Southern Indiana and in Colorado – where she wanted to be – shortly after graduation from ASOT in 2015.

“Anywhere on the West Coast, there are a lot of jobs,” she said. “Anywhere in the South and in any rural areas there are plenty of jobs.”

She said she felt eager and prepared to go work out west after Spalding placed her at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland for her Level II fieldwork.

Tenido also got her bachelor’s in health science from Spalding, participating in the bridge program in which senior undergraduates can begin working toward their graduate-level OT coursework and finish a year sooner. She said she enjoyed the small class size of the ASOT program.

“I felt like it was more of a family atmosphere, and that was really nice,” she said. “They promoted that feeling and culture. … I think Spalding helped me become a well-rounded therapist. I’m doing a little bit of outpatient and a little bit of skilled nursing. But if I wanted to go on into mental health, or community therapy, I would be able to do it with all the knowledge and all the education I received from Spalding. So I would highly recommend it. I think they did an excellent job in educating and getting me ready for whatever setting I chose to work in.”

Learn more about the Auerbach School of Occupational Therapy.

Watch a video about the Spalding Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) program.

Register for a Aug. 28, 2018 Spalding OTD info session.

School of Nursing faculty member Dr. Nancy Kern is helping battle the recent hepatitis A outbreak in a way that aligns with Spalding University’s mission of spreading compassion and serving underserved and vulnerable populations.

Kern, an associate professor in Spalding’s Master of Science in Nursing program, and her husband, Paul, who works for Louisville Metro Government’s Department for Public Health and Wellness, have spent a night or two per week for the past several months traveling around the city administering hepatitis A vaccines to homeless citizens.

Since November, Kern said, she’d given shots to about 450 people they’ve encountered in parking lots, under overpasses or in back alleys.

“I’m very aware that this is what the university’s mission is, and when I’m with my students, it’s just kind of reminding them, ‘This is what we’re called to do,’” Kern said.

Kern said she and her husband do their hepatitis A vaccine work, literally, out of the back of their car, attempting to approach homeless folks in an unassuming way so they’ll be more likely to participate.

The homeless can be among the most vulnerable to the hepatitis A virus due to a lack of sanitation in their living conditions. They also are at risk for hepatitis B and hepatitis C, and a co-infection with hepatitis A can have serious consequences.

But because drug use can be prevalent in homeless populations, those people tend to be leery of coming to a health department office or traditional brick-and-mortars medical facility to get a vaccine and or explain why they might be at risk. That led to the Kerns trying the mobile approach.

They offer food, some information about hepatitis and the opportunity to get a shot.

“If they’re not interested, it’s just, ‘OK, well, here’s some information,’” Nancy Kern said. “’If you know anybody who starts having these symptoms, tell them they need to get seen. Here’s some soap. Remember that hand sanitizer doesn’t work. You have to use soap and water to protect yourself.’ So we’re trying to do a lot of patient education but in a non-threatening, non-authoritarian way.”

Kern said she and her husband are happy to get two or three people vaccinated in a night, and over time, they hope that’ll build trust and get more people to participate when the Kerns show up again.

Kern is no stranger to working with the homeless, and she said she has “just always gravitated toward working with the underdog.” She has been a Red Cross volunteer since 1970 and has lived overseas and been exposed to folks living in extreme poverty.

“Many people just aren’t comfortable talking to somebody who’s homeless,” Kern said. “I’m not afraid of these folks. … I don’t care if they look disheveled. I don’t care if they haven’t had a bath in a while. I don’t care if they have a mental illness because my background is also in mental health.”

Kern has taken Spalding graduate and undergraduate nursing students with her on the hepatitis A street outreach trips and other service initiatives.

For example, Kern, assisted by four Spalding students, immunized 160 festival goers at the recent Pride Festival on the waterfront.

And last fall, Kern and Spalding undergraduate nursing professor Dr. Rebecca Gesler took a group of nursing students to Grundy, Va., to participate in the Remote Area Medical free clinic for underserved and uninsured individuals. The Spalding volunteers worked closely with dentists providing free dental care.

Kern said service learning is valuable to nursing students.

“With my students, they’re learning more about infection, about infectious disease, infection prevention with vaccination,” she said. “They learn patient education approaches.”

And as for working with homeless and other underserved populations, Kern said, “some students have never been confronted with something other than the life that they know. That’s what service learning is about.”

Kern has taught at Spalding for 10 years. A nurse practitioner who received her MSN and doctorate of education in leadership (EdD) from the university, Kern teaches graduate courses in health assessment, adult primary care and the theoretical foundations of nursing as well as a scholarly synthesis course in which she guides MSN students through evidence-based projects.

She is also in practice at Norton Occupational Medicine.

Asked in a recent interview during National Nurses Week why she thinks nurses should be appreciated, Kern said nurses have “the unique experience of being with you at the very best of times, like when your baby is born, to the very worst of times.”

“We enter a very sacred space with our patients,” she said.

More information | Read more about the historic Spalding School of Nursing

A group of doctoral students and faculty from the Spalding University School of Professional Psychology spent last weekend learning and helping at the same time.

Ten students from Spalding’s Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology program (PsyD), along with faculty members Drs. Norah Chapman and Amy Young, volunteered to provide information and mental health services while also conducting research at the Remote Area Medical free clinic in Hazard, Ky.

The RAM mobile clinics provide free medical, dental and vision care to underserved or uninsured individuals. The Spalding PsyD volunteers helped add mental health services to the fold in Hazard.

Chapman said the PsyD volunteers worked in three roles at the RAM clinic: staffing an informational table to explain about good mental health practices, performing direct interventions and brief counseling with clients, and providing integrated care with the dentists. They helped calm patients – including many who’d not seen a dentist in years or ever – as they received extractions, fillings and other procedures.

The Spalding volunteers interacted with more 200 clients and patients over the weekend, Chapman said, and for some of the newer PsyD students, it was their first experience working directly with clients.

“This is really the pinnacle of our training programs – research intervention, integrated health care and serving underserved populations,” Chapman said. “It was an incredible experience.”

Chapman said the Spalding volunteers tried to explain to clients and patients the importance of mental health services and to put them at ease about talking to a professional about their concerns and needs. She said some had faced physical trauma; felt anxiety or stress over family or financial issues; or were battling addiction.

Chapman said some of the visitors thanked Spalding’s volunteers for being there and told them they wouldn’t otherwise have had access to mental health services where they live. Chapman said several of visitors there had never previously talked to a mental health professional.

Spalding PsyD student Autumn Truss said it was “truly inspiring” to see the range of health providers from the across the country come together at the RAM clinic to serve the “resilient population of Eastern Kentucky.”

“Partnering with RAM to provide free mental health services was the perfect opportunity to help this underserved population and carry out Spalding’s mission as a compassionate university,” Truss said.

Group of 11 people, wearing matching blue T-shirts that say "Spalding University Volunteers" at the Remote Area Medical clinic in Hazard, Ky. — Spalding clinical psychology student and faculty volunteers at the Remote Area Medical clinic in Hazard, Ky., June 23-24, 2018.

Three female Spalding students wearing blue shirts, sit on gym floor reading to a young boy as a man holding a smaller boy looks on — Photo from RAM Facebook page

Here’s a summer invitation from Spalding University: Get some training on athletic training.

If you’re a teenage student who contributes to the athletic training staff of your high school’s sports teams, or if you’re just interested in learning about athletic training, an upcoming Spalding skills camp figures to be right up your alley.

Spalding’s Master of Science in Athletic Training program, partnering with the Kentucky Orthopedic Rehab Team (KORT), will host its second annual High School Athletic Training and Sports Medicine Workshop on Wednesday, June 20 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eighth-graders are also invited to participate. The cost is $30, and the deadline to register is June 15. Here is the link to sign up.

Spalding athletic training faculty member Sabrina Pletz said most of the students who attended camp last year were athletic training aides or team managers at their schools, or high school athletes, themselves, who have been hurt, gone through rehab and worked with an athletic trainer.

“People who attend the camp can definitely increase their skills,” Pletz said. “Taping is always something that students can do on the sideline at their high school. Basic first aid, assisting with spine boarding, splinting, these are all things they can learn and enhance their skills and take back with them if they’re helping out at their high school, or even middle school.”

The camp will include an overview of athletic training and demonstrations of taping, bracing, making splints, using a backboard and performing emergency procedures. Campers will also be introduced to some modalities and therapy devices such as an ultrasound machine, and they’ll learn some rehab techniques.

The Spalding athletic department’s strength and conditioning coach, Sarah Clinton, will meet with campers and explain the kind of work she does with athletes.

And the camp will conclude with the Athletic Trainer Olympics – a fun competition of relay races to test the campers’ skills.

The camp will start and finish at Spalding’s Columbia Gym, 824 S. Fourth St., which houses the university’s varsity basketball and volleyball gym upstairs and the athletic training room, fitness center and athletic department offices in the lower level.

There will also be a stop by Spalding’s athletic training lab in the Kosair Charities College of Health and Natural Sciences building., 901 S. Third St.

This is the first year Spalding and KORT, which employs many of the athletic trainers who work at area high schools, have partnered on the camp, and Pletz said she’s excited to have the KORT athletic trainers on hand to share their expertise.

The Spalding and KORT athletic trainers, such as Kevin Brown, who works with the Louisville Ballet, will explain the many kinds of job settings in which athletic trainers can work.

“There are military settings, industrial settings,” Pletz said, noting that Spalding has a couple graduates who are now ATs at GE. “It’s not always just taping ankles on the sideline. There is so much you can do. The settings are expanding by leaps and bounds.”

To the students who attend the camp and might want to make athletic training their profession, keep Spalding in mind for college. Spalding’s master’s in athletic training program was the first accredited athletic training graduate program in the state. And if you attend Spalding as an undergrad, you can begin taking courses toward your master’s during your senior year before you graduate. If you do it successfully, once you get your bachelor’s degree in natural science, you’ll need only one more year to get your master’s in athletic training.

“You can finish with a bachelor’s and a master’s in five years,” Pletz said. “That’s a big plus.”

Candice Johnson will participate in Spalding commencement on June 2, having earned her doctorate of education in leadership (EdD) from Spalding. Dr. Johnson, a senior outreach counselor with the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority, discusses some more about her Spalding experience in this interview.

What is your favorite Spalding memory?

It’s hard to name just one. Spending time on campus during weekend classes, having lunch outside in the library courtyard.

What accomplishments are you most proud of during your time at Spalding?

Successfully defending my dissertation on Dec. 14, 2017, all while raising an amazing daughter, Miss Kyla Brooklyn Ford, working full-time, and serving the community.

What is your favorite spot on campus?

Second floor of the library, second table to the right by the window. It became my home away from home.

Is there anything else that you would like to share?

Wow, I am so excited to participate in commencement weekend at Spalding. Spalding is a special place, and I knew it was where I was supposed to be to do my doctoral studies. Lately I’ve been sharing with students that they are worth it, so they have to work it. I pray that by my actions of “working it,” I am continuing to show students that their own goals and dreams can come to fruition with faith and work. And really that goes for everyone!

Katie Goben ’18 graduates from Spalding’s Master of Science in Business Communication (MSBC) on June 2 with a 4.0 GPA. Goben, who earned her master’s degree while working full time, discusses her experience as well as her favorite memory at Spalding.

What is your favorite Spalding memory?

Goben: My favorite memory of the MSBC program is simply all of the people I have met throughout the program. Dr. Hinkle has quickly become a mentor to me and my peers never stop amazing me with their determination to reach their goals. I know I have met lifelong friends and created a network that will help me reach my goals in the future.

What accomplishments are you most proud of during your time at Spalding?

Goben: I am most proud to be graduating from the MSBC program with a 4.0. This is not something I have done before, so it feels good to see all my hard work pay off. It is especially nice since I completed the program in one year while working full time.

What is your favorite spot on campus?

My favorite spot on campus is the patio off the second floor of the ELC. It is a great spot to hideaway in, relax, eat and take naps in the hammocks! It has even helped me get a few unintentional sunburns this spring.

Is there anything else that you would like to share?

Spalding will forever hold a special place in my heart. The last year has been full of ups and downs but the support that this school gives is second to none. I was very nervous coming into the Master of Science in Business Communication, but I realized early on I was going to be okay. I would encourage anyone who is considering furthering their education to not only consider Spalding but especially the MSBC program.

Jeff Maxey, an alumnus of the Spalding University College of Education master’s program, was named the South Carolina Teacher of the Year on May 2. In a phone interview this week during Teacher Appreciation Week, Maxey said he credits the program at Spalding for setting him on a path to success in teaching.

“Not a day has gone by in teaching classes that I don’t think back to something I learned in my experience at Spalding,” said Maxey, a special education teacher at Starr Elementary School in Anderson, South Carolina.

He won the award during a gala event last week. He’ll receive $25,000 and the use of a new BMW for the next year, during which he’ll serve as an ambassador and the spokesman for more than 50,000 educators in the state. He’ll travel the state to speak, conduct mentoring and work with teacher cadets and teaching fellows. The South Carolina Department of Education touts its Teacher of the Year program as one of the strongest in the country.

“Jeff exhibits the qualities and characteristics that we want to see in every current and future South Carolina educator,” State Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman said.

Maxey didn’t begin his professional life as a teacher. The Louisville native and Seneca High School graduate got his bachelor’s degree in religious studies and communication from Western Kentucky University in 1992, then served as a minister at Eastwood Baptist Church in Bowling Green.

Several years later, he made the career move into teaching, and he said the programs offered in the Spalding College of Education made it possible. Maxey was able to earn certification to teach special education during the day at Lassiter Middle School in the Jefferson County Public Schools system while taking his graduate-school courses in the evenings and on weekends.

Maxey spent about 18 months at Spalding, earning a Master of Arts in Teaching with a concentration on learning and behavior disorders.

“To be able to do it hand in hand – the learning (at Spalding) while being a practitioner during the day – really solidified and made the teaching in the classroom come to life and made me that much more a part of what of my professors were teaching me, because then I could go try it,” Maxey said. “Then I could come back and interact (with the professors) about what worked or about what things I could do to tweak it to become more successful.”

MORE: Information on all bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral offerings from the College of Education

Maxey said he was grateful for the options that were available to him at Spalding as an adult learner looking to make a career change into teaching.

“Spalding was a huge part of my educational journey,” Maxey said. “Right now, with the teacher shortage that we’re experiencing, I hope there’s a lot of people out there who would consider it. If they’re looking at making a change in career, looking for something very meaningful in which they can impact the life of children, I would certainly recommend that they consider Spalding and they consider teaching.”

After spending three years at Lassiter Middle School, Maxey’s career took a unique turn. He moved to North Africa to work for eight years for a non-profit organization doing teacher training in small villages.

“Every day, I used in Africa what I learned at Spalding,” he said. “I used a lot of the same principles my professors at Spalding taught me in how to use a variety of teaching techniques that I was able to pass along to those teachers and help them be successful in their settings.”

Maxey returned to the United States in 2013 and began teaching in South Carolina. His Teacher of the Year award shows that he’s done an exemplary job.

Maxey is eager to start traveling to talk with students, teachers, administrators and legislators about education policy and classroom practices. As a special education teacher, he said one priority of his will be to discuss enhancing teaching techniques for students with autism.

And, as he travels as Teacher of the Year, he’ll be riding in style. As for that brand new BMW, Maxey said, “I’m looking forward to putting a lot of miles on it.”