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This Week@WesternU, May 14-18, 2012

by Rodney Tanaka

May 14, 2012

Read 5 mins

2012 Commencement

The 31st Annual Commencement Exercises for Western University of Health Sciences will be held on May 17-18, 2012 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena, Calif. Here are some important reminders to graduates regarding commencement. Please forward to friends and family as appropriate.

Click here to read a Commencement story.

Graduate Reminders

Commencement website: The commencement website at http://www.westernu.edu/commencement/ has all kinds of useful information including parking maps, directions, and instructions. Please pull all necessary information from the site before heading to the Pasadena Civic Auditorium!

Live webcast: We are pleased to announce that the commencement ceremonies will be webcast live at http://www.westernu.edu/commencement/cs_webcast.php. Please let those who are not attending know, so they can watch you online!

Guest Reminders

Doors Close Early: The front doors will close at 9:20 for AM ceremonies and 2:50 for PM ceremonies and will re-open after the processional, invocation and national anthem. It’s essential that all of your guests are seated in the auditorium prior to the doors closing. If your friends/relatives tend to be late… you might tell them it starts 30 minutes earlier.

Tickets Required (for CGN/CAHP and GCBS/COMP ceremonies): Remember your tickets, as all attendees must have a ticket to enter the auditorium!

College of Allied Health Professions

College of Graduate Nursing

Thursday, May 17, 9:30 a.m.

Keynote Speaker: Devorah A. Lieberman, PhD

President, University of La Verne

College of Pharmacy

Thursday, May 17, 3 p.m.

Keynote Speaker: Michael Maddux, PharmD, FCCP

Executive Director of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy

College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific

Graduate College of Biomedical Sciences

Friday, May 18, 9:30 a.m.

Keynote Speaker: H. Roger Hadley, MD

Dean, Loma Linda University School of Medicine

College of Veterinary Medicine

Friday, May 18, 3 p.m.

Keynote Speaker: Temple Grandin, PhD

Announcements

Towne & Gown Golf Classic

WesternU invites the public to an exciting day of golf to benefit student scholarships.

The Towne & Gown Golf Classic, benefiting the University Scholarship Fund, will be held on June 18, 2012 at the Glendora Country Club, 310 Amelia Ave., Glendora, Calif.

Registration and lunch starts at 11 a.m. followed by a noon shotgun start. Golf Ball Drop from the driving range will happen at 11:45. The owner of the golf ball that lands in the hole or closest to the pin will be the winner of the 50/50 prize. The Hole-in-One prize is a 2012 Cadillac, sponsored by Symes Cadillac of Pasadena. Reception dinner and awards ceremony will follow the event.

Cost is $175 per golfer or $700 per foursome. Proceeds will benefit the University Scholarship Fund thanks to the generosity of T.F. Chen, DDS. Deadline to enter is June 11, 2012.

For more information or to sign up, please contact Susan Terrazas at 909-706-3476, email sterrazas@westernu.edu, or Austin Braunwalder at 909-469-8495, email abraunwalder@westernu.edu.

Click here to view the website.

From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:

Dr. Benninger invited as VIP guest at Dr. Volkow Conference lecture

Recently Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Addiction, gave a formal lecture at the Portland Conference Center. Dr. Brion Benninger, Clinician and Neuroscientist, was an invited personal guest of Lines for Life, which is a unique public service group for addiction and suicide. Click here to read the full story.

Kudos on accomplishments

Brion Benninger, MD, MSc, COMP-Northwest Professor, Vice Chair, Department of Medical Anatomical Sciences, and Taylor Delamarter, Clinical Anatomy Researcher, Department of Medical Anatomical Sciences, COMP-Northwest, had their research project, “The ‘oblique popliteal ligament,’ a macro and microanalysis to determine if it is a ligament or a tendon,” accepted for publication in a special issue of Anatomy Research International on “The Human Knee: Gross, Microscopic, Surgical, and Radiological Anatomy.” Click here to read more about their accomplishments.

COMP-Northwest student Nicolette O’Donnell won a $5,000 scholarship from the Oregon Medical Education Foundation (OMEF) during an event held April 21, 2012 in Portland. Click here to read the full story.

From the College of Allied Health Professions:

Department of Health Sciences Education News

The Department of Health Sciences celebrated Honor’s Day with our 2012 graduates and honored students on May 10, 2012. The Department would like to thank the participants, friends and family for attending this event and wish to extend congratulations to all the graduates. The Department also wishes to extend a special thank you to Dean Bowlin and Dr. Gugelchuk for taking time out of their busy schedule to attend.

Department of Physician Assistant Education News

Congratulations to Class of 2013 PA students Vivian Nguyen, Scott Martin, Heather Yoo, Ismah Jawed, and Mayra Castaneda, as they have been awarded a student stipend as part of the Physician Assistant Training Grant sponsored by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The students received the award based upon their dedication to primary care and underserved populations. Their essays were very inspiring and reinforce the concept that WesternU educates students who truly exhibit compassion and humanism.

Saloni Swarup, PA-S 2013, was recently elected to the California Academy of Physician Assistants (CAPA) as the California Student Representative. She holds a voting position on CAPA’s Board of Directors. Also, PA Department Chair Roy Guizado, MS, PA-C, was re-elected as Director at Large for CAPA. He is also CAPA’s Chair of Student Affairs.

Department of Physical Therapy Education News

Alumna Carrie Sussman, PT, DPT ’06, and Barbara Bates-Jensen, RN, PhD, WOCN, FAAN, published the 4th edition of their textbook, “Wound Care: a collaborative practice manual for health professionals.” Dr. Sussman acknowledges the tremendous help and support from the WesternU research library staff and thanks them for helping make this book an evidence-based text. She donated a copy of the new edition to the Pumerantz Library.

From the College of Pharmacy:

Kudos on accomplishments

WesternU Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences student John Murad won a prestigious award that serves as both a personal achievement and a milestone for the College of Pharmacy.

Murad, MSPS ’12, received the First Place Graduate Student Best Abstract Award of the Cardiovascular Pharmacology Division of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) at the April 21-25, 2012 Experimental Biology Meeting in San Diego, Calif. Click here to read the full story.

Dr. David Sanchez had a recent education-based publication describing a team-based/student centered teaching design in a Microbiology course. This paper was modeled with students at Los Angeles City College and is currently being assessed for effectiveness: David Jesse Sanchez and Daniel Miranda, Jr., “Using a Team Structure for Student-Assisted Facilitation of Laboratories in an Introductory Allied Health Microbiology Course.” Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education, May 2012, Volume 13(1). Click here to view the article.

From the College of Optometry:

Kudos on accomplishments

College of Optometry students participated in a vision screening, sports vision demonstration, cow eye dissection demonstration, and displayed informational posters about vision at the McCracken Science Fair at the Pomona Fairplex on May 6, 2012. This event was a component of the Service Learning course for many of the optometry students. The faculty member that supervised the vision screening was the Director of Community Outreach, Kristy Remick-Waltman, OD.

From the Graduate College of Biomedical Sciences:

MSMS Capstone Research Poster Session

Thirty Masters of Science in Medical Sciences students presented their research posters during the annual Capstone Research Poster Session on May 8, 2012. Click here to read more and to view a slideshow.

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