• Nancy Gerber, PhD, director of the PhD Program in Creative Arts Therapies, and Victoria Scotti, PhD candidate, presented their paper entitled "An Arts-Based Research Exploration of Intersubjective Landscapes: Veiling and Unveiling" at the European Consortium of Arts Therapies Educators (ECArTE) Conference in Palermo, Sicily (September 16-19, 2015). 

 

• A November 12 press release from the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) announced the NEA Military Healing Arts Partnership supports the integrated health care model, in which creative arts therapists collaborate closely with a diverse team of health care professionals (such as physicians, neurologists, nurses, psychologists, physical therapists, and others) to share information and advance patient healing. A research collaboration – led by Girija Kaimal, EdD, assistant professor, PhD Program in Creative Arts Therapies; Joke Bradt, PhD, associate professor; research coordinator, Adele Gonzaga; and graduate research assistants, Kate Myers-Coffman and Bronwen Landless – was mentioned.

 

• Assistant clinical professor, Beth Desaretz Chiatti, PhD, presented her poster “Health Care Beliefs and Practices of Ethiopian Immigrants in an Urban U.S. Community” at the Drexel Africa Poster Fair and Reception on Thursday, October 22.

 

• Michele Rattigan, MA, clinical assistant professor of the Graduate Art Therapy and Counseling program, and Girija Kaimal, PhD, assistant professor in the Creative Arts Therapies PhD program, presented a workshop on November 8th in New York City at the Expressive Therapies Summit.  Their didactic presentation, “Creativity, Community, and Self-Care” was well-attended by professionals from creative arts therapies, counseling, and social work seeking to introduce self-care practices and wellness models into their places of employment.  

 

• Yasmine Awais, MAAT, interim director of Art Therapy & Counseling presented the closing keynote entitled “Embracing Difference: Culture and the Therapeutic Relationship in Art Therapy” for the Illinois Art Therapy Association’s 35th annual conference, The Contemporary Landscape of Art Therapy. Over 150 attendees were present at this conference held at the National Mexican Museum of Art in Chicago, IL. 

 

• Seth Laucks ‘15,  a music therapist at St. Ignatius Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and alumnus of the Music Therapy & Counseling program, is profiled in a short film, “Restorative Rhythms” by Dr. Dave Reiss. The award-winning video, which also features Music Therapy program director Flossie Ierardi, MM, and Music Therapy faculty member Paul Nolan, PhD, describes the powerful positive effects of music and music therapy. https://vimeo.com/132607601

 

• This fall, the Dance/Movement Therapy & Counseling program welcomed Satwika Rahapsari of Indonesia, who is here studying Dance/Movement Therapy & Counseling on a Fulbright scholarship. 

 

• All three MS Human Nutrition students who applied for a dietetic internship were matched. They are: Meredith Binder (University of Houston), Danielle Ingerman (Sodexo) and Tara Pellechia (Sodexo).

 

• Several students form the College of Nursing and Health Professions presented at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine (MARC-ACSM) Conference, including Abigail Duffine Gilman ‘12 (PhD candidate in Nutrition Sciences), Brianna Higgins and Emily Werner (both MS students in Nutrition Sciences) and Christen Mendonca and Jillian Hawkins (both PhD students in Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences).

 

• Marcus Scarfo and Spencer Killian, both second-year students in the Master of Arts in Art Therapy & Counseling program recently received awards for their achievements in the program. Scarfo was the 2015 recipient of the Ronald E. Hays and Nancy Scheller Hays Art Therapy Endowment Fund Award, which supports students in the Art Therapy Master’s program. Killian received the Jungian Art Therapy Award, sponsored by Dr. Betty Hartzell, who teaches Jungian Psychology for Art Therapists. This award recognizes a student who has completed the course (currently offered in the Spring Quarter of the first year of the MA program) and has integrated these concepts and theory in their personal and/or clinical life.  

 

• All 27 students in the Adult Gero Acute Care NP cohort for 2014-15 achieved a 100% pass rate for their national certification. 

 

• The Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner 2014-15 cohort have all completed their national boards at a 100% pass rate. 

 

• Samira Islam, a student in the Master of Health Administration (MHA) program, was awarded a prestigious Administrative Fellowship at Geisinger Health System.  The Fellowship – of which there are few of a similar nature nationally – “is designed to be a two-year leadership experience with the opportunity to apply specific graduate study principles in the practical work setting of a fully integrated health care delivery system.”