Tag: graduate programs

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.”

The Spalding Master of Science in Athletic Training program will celebrate National Athletic Training Month with a speech from Purdue University associate athletic director Doug Boersma at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, March 22 in the Columbia Gym auditorium. It’ll be preceded by a health fair from the Eagle Care Clinic at 11 in the gym lobby.

Pizza and soft drinks will be served.

The National Athletic Trainers’ Association has declared the theme of this year’s Athletic Training Month to be, “Compassionate care for all,” and Boersma will share his experiences in delivering compassionate care to student-athletes.

Boersma, a certified athletic trainer for more than 20 years, oversees the medical treatment and rehabilitation of for all 18 Purdue sports programs. He’s also had stints at Bowling Green State, the University of Kentucky and Notre Dame. Read Boersma’s full bio.

Spalding’s MSAT is the first master’s-level professional athletic training program in Kentucky. The program will hold an info session on April 12.  Register for the April info session.

For more information online, visit Spalding.edu/athletic-training.

Kurt Jefferson, who previously served as assistant dean of global initiatives at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, was named Spalding’s dean of graduate education late last semester. He said he’s eager to get to work supporting and enhancing the university’s 12 graduate programs while engaging with the Louisville community and promoting Spalding’s mission.

“Spalding has done a wonderful job – far ahead of a lot of other schools our size – as far as the graduate infrastructure that’s already here,” Jefferson said. “I want to help build the infrastructure even more and create new graduate and professional offerings.

“I also want to have that public relations component that helps us market and tell the story of what a Spalding education does for our students. … (Graduate programs) exist to propagate and explain the importance of lifelong learning and what advanced degrees can do for people’s careers and mindsets. Coming back and taking courses or getting that extra degree – a master’s or a doctorate or a certificate – there’s real value in that. … Advanced training is going to improve the workforce, improve the education of the citizenry and make not only our economy better but make for better citizens for the country.”

Jefferson, who earned a doctorate and master’s degree in political science from the University of Missouri-Columbia after graduating magna cum laude from Western Illinois University, spent 24 years at Westminster in various teaching and administrative roles.

He had an emphasis on international relations, global politics and transnational studies and led the creation of the Churchill Institute for Global Engagement. He helped bolster study-abroad programs and international studies offerings, and he developed a major annual weeklong symposium with more than 20 speakers and an audience of 1,000.

Over the years, Jefferson landed high-profile speakers such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Secretary of State James Baker, neuroscientist and PBS host of “The Brain” David Eagleman and forensic pathologist Bennet Omalu, who famously researched the effects of brain injuries on football players and was portrayed by Will Smith in the movie “Concussion.”

“It’s something I hope to replicate here,” Jefferson said of the speaking series. “It allows graduate students and graduate faculty to continue the intellectual discourse on campus and in the community. It allows for important topics to be discussed.”

Jefferson brought Spalding President Tori Murden McClure to the Westminster symposium in 2013 to speak about her work at Spalding as well as her personal story of rowing solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Jefferson said McClure was one of the best speakers Westminster had during the 11 years he ran the symposium, and her talk was a big reason why he was interested in the graduate dean’s position at Spalding.

Jefferson said Spalding’s mission, which is rooted in social justice, compassion and community building and is championed by McClure, appealed to him.

Jefferson already was familiar with Kentucky. His father, Robert Jefferson, was the dean of the college of business at Western Kentucky University from 1996 to 2006, and Kurt Jefferson made multiple visits to Bowling Green.

After teaching for a long time in the small town of Fulton, Kurt Jefferson said he was eager to work in a large, growing city like Louisville, where he believes there is the potential for city-wide growth in graduate and professional programs.

Jefferson helped organize a program in social entrepreneurship at Westminster, and he said he hopes to increase engagement between Spalding’s grad programs and businesses and nonprofits in Louisville. He also sees potential for new interdisciplinary areas of study in sustainability and sustainable technologies.

He said he’s proud that Spalding’s health science grad programs value having their students work with and treat underserved populations, and he hopes to keep encouraging that.

And with his expertise in global studies and politics, Jefferson said he’d like to encourage conversations on campus about transnational issues – ranging from disease to the financial markets – that will affect Spalding’s grad students.

“I think I can bring some leadership in that area,” he said, “and my hope is to have graduate students discussing these things at Spalding and then taking them out beyond the community.”

Learn more about Spalding’s graduate programs at Spalding.edu/graduate-programs and Spalding.edu/graduate-students.