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College Recognizes Faculty/Staff Excellence

AHS E-News Spring 2020

The College of Applied Health Sciences announced the 2020 recipients of the college faculty and staff awards for excellence. Recipients include:

Terri DanielsStaff Excellence Award
Terri Daniels
Business Administrative Associate
Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism

Terri Daniels joined RST in 2015. At the time, the department was in a period of transition. She brought her positive attitude, professionalism, and outstanding work ethic to bear on a difficult situation while working to rebuild the understaffed front office and provide steadfast support to the new department head. She not only excels in her performance but also is always willing to take initiative and go the extra mile. When the undergraduate internship director accepted a position at another university, Terri took on the demanding responsibilities of maintaining relationships with internship sites, coordinating placements for all undergraduate students, and monitoring their job performance. All of this is on top of her already challenging position providing financial and business support services to the department as business administrative associate.

Terri constantly seeks out opportunities to improve and augment her professional skill set. Last spring, she completed a master’s degree in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership with a focus on human resources and development. Her outstanding academic work led to her induction into the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and an invitation to join the Golden Key International Honor Society. She also has completed the campus HR Series for Supervisors and Managers and is currently enrolled in the Office of Business and Financial Services’ Business Administrator Certification Program. Terri is also active in the community, serving on the Board of Directors of the Eastern Illinois Foodbank as well as two of the organization’s outreach committees.

Jeannette ElliottAcademic Excellence Award
Dr. Jeannette Elliott
Physical Therapist
Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services

As the full-time physical therapist for the Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services since 2004, Dr. Jeannette Elliott manages the daily operations of the DRES Wellness Gym, provides support services to the Adapted Varsity Athletics Program, teaches classes for the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, and serves as clinical instructor for doctoral students coming to DRES from physical therapy programs from around the country. Dr. Elliott provides more than 1200 hours of physical therapy sessions throughout the academic year. She supervises about 1200 additional hours given by approximately 60 volunteers each year. She also has overseen at least one Doctor of Physical Therapy student intern every semester since 2008.

Dr. Elliott has collaborated with researchers to develop electronic documentation software to track attendance and fitness outcomes for novice and elite athletes in prescribed strengthening and conditioning programs. She served as a consultant and clinical expert on studies focused on multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, and aging with a disability. She was the liaison for DRES’s first visiting scholar, a physical therapist and professor from the University of Physical Education in Warsaw, Poland. She currently is serving on the innovation team for PURE, a project to design an innovative wheelchair for the future that received recognition from Toyota’s Mobility Challenge. In 2006, she was recognized as PT of the Year by the Illinois Physical Therapy Association, and she received the 2007 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

Dr. Naiman KhanExcellence in Guiding Undergraduate Research Award
Dr. Naiman Khan
Assistant Professor
Department of Kinesiology and Community Health

Dr. Naiman Khan joined the College of Applied Health Sciences in 2015. In his Body Composition and Nutritional Neuroscience Lab, he conducts multidisciplinary research that draws from dietetics, body composition, and cognitive neuroscience to investigate interactions between diet and physical activity and their impact on cognitive and brain health in pediatric and adult populations. Over the last four years, he has mentored about 12 undergraduate students per semester in his lab. During data collection on a large-scale study, he worked with more than 30 undergraduate students in his lab. Three of his undergraduate research assistants have received undergraduate research grants, four have been co-authors on primary research papers, four have presented at national conferences, and 10 have presented at the University of Illinois Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Because of the multidisciplinary nature of his research, Dr. Khan’s undergraduate research assistants gain experience with a variety of research techniques, including recording EEGs, analyzing dietary intake, conducting aerobic fitness testing, and assessing body composition using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry. Dr. Khan meets with his undergraduate research assistants each week, giving them the opportunity to engage in critical evaluations of primary research articles and to discuss research methods related to exercise, nutrition, and cognition. The meetings have a profound impact on his mentees. As one student put it, “He has opened my eyes to the world of research, taught me its importance, and sparked a passion for it that I am excited to take with me and explore further in my graduate career.”

Dr. Jake SosnoffExcellence in Graduate Student Mentoring
Dr. Jacob Sosnoff
Professor
Department of Kinesiology and Community Health

Dr. Jacob Sosnoff has been a member of the AHS faculty since 2005 and is the director of the Motor Control Research Lab and the Illini Fall Prevention Clinic. His funded research program provides an excellent environment for graduate students to acquire skills that are essential to an academic career in the rehabilitation sciences.

Dr. Sosnoff meets with his students individually each week to discuss their progress and challenges and to brainstorm solutions. The meetings serve as the setting for a shared visioning exercise, which enables Dr. Sosnoff to match professional opportunities for presenting, publishing, teaching, and so on to a student’s professional goals. In their first year as PhD students, he mentors his PhD students in conducting and publishing literature reviews—10 have been published in the last five years. This is followed in their second year of study by a series of pilot investigations, which serve as preliminary data for their dissertation proposals. Finally, in order to demystify the grant-writing process, Dr. Sosnoff guides his students in writing their dissertation proposals in the form of a National Institutes of Health grant proposal. On average, his PhD students graduate with 10 peer-reviewed publications, with about 40 percent as first author. He has mentored several Carol L. Chittenden Fellows, two Paul D. Doolen scholars, an MS Run the US Scholar, and several departmental award recipients. His students have gone on to tenure-track positions at research-intensive universities like Arizona State University and teaching-intensive universities like Northern Illinois University, research scientist positions at research institutions like Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, and specialized faculty positions.

Dr. Sandraluz Lara-CinisomoExcellence in Graduate and Professional Teaching
Dr. Sandraluz Lara-Cinisomo
Assistant Professor
Department of Kinesiology and Community Health

Dr. Sandraluz Lara-Cinisomo joined the faculty of the College of Applied Health Sciences in 2015. As one of the few scholars focused on mental health among racial and ethnic minorities, Dr. Lara-Cinisomo is highly sought after by graduate students from a variety of institutions and disciplines, including anthropology and statistics. She has been asked to serve on dissertation and thesis committees by students from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, George Washington University, Palo Alto University, and University College London. Her graduate students have won prestigious awards from the American Psychological Association and the Marcé of North America, an organization dedicated to perinatal mental health research and practice. Dr. Lara-Cinisomo’s research program has attracted students to the College of Applied Health Sciences from Nigeria, Colombia, and Mexico. Through the diversification of the graduate student body, Dr. Lara-Cinisomo is contributing to the diversification of the mental health profession.

Dr. Lara-Cinisomo engages her graduate students in research at all levels, from conceptualizing and leading projects to contributing to peer-reviewed publications, from assisting with foundation and federal grant applications to presenting at national and international conferences. She involves her students in cutting-edge research such as the use of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging with postpartum women with and without depression. She also assists them with achieving their professional goals by helping them prepare for job and medical school interviews. Her contributions to improving graduate education also include developing a new course on health disparities and adapting an existing course to meet the educational needs of two different graduate student populations in alternating semesters.

Liselle MilazzoExcellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award: Teaching Assistant
Liselle Milazzo
PhD Student
Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism

Liselle Milazzo has demonstrated an exceptional record of sustained excellence in teaching and mentoring undergraduate students. She is a conscientious teacher who devotes considerable attention to developing her courses and working with students. She lectures, grades assignments, manages students, and deals with technology services and countless other challenges while remaining focused on and making progress in her own studies. She has taught both on-campus and online courses with 35 to 750 students per section. Even in the large courses, she creates the learning environment of a small course. She complements her lectures with carefully selected videos, weblinks, audience surveys, and personal experiences to explain and illustrate course concepts. She makes a concerted effort to engage students on a personal level.

Liselle accommodates diverse learning styles and abilities in class assignments as well, using exams, collaborative group projects, personal reflections, and other evaluation tools. Students often cite the collaborative atmosphere of Liselle’s classes as a reason for their continued engagement. They report that her classes are among their favorites because they are informative, entertaining, challenging, and rewarding. Several students who had not yet declared a major chose to join RST after taking one of her classes. Students comment that Liselle expects a lot from them but is fair. They describe her as creative, passionate, and knowledgeable. She is not only dedicated, but also gifted in crafting lectures to include materials that are relevant, engaging, and provocative. She is sought out by students for guidance, as evidenced by her involvement with James Scholar projects every semester she has taught.

Justine KaplanExcellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award: Instructional Staff
Justine Kaplan
Clinical Assistant Professor/Interim Director, Master of Public Health Program
Department of Kinesiology and Community Health

Justine Kaplan is an outstanding teacher who makes a difference in the education of AHS students by guiding them into many different community outreach projects, job opportunities, and graduate programs. She also ensures the quality of undergraduate education by preparing graduate teaching assistants for the classroom, helping them set up syllabi, build Compass sites, and develop lecture notes, exams, and assignments. She brings her more than 10 years of experience as a public health practitioner, health educator, continuing medical education provider, and team and department manager to bear on her teaching.

Since joining the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health in 2013, Justine has taught more 8500 students in more than 50 classes, including large and small, required and elective, on-campus and online, 100- to 500-level courses. One of her most significant contributions to the undergraduate student experience has been working with James Scholar students. Last year alone, she mentored more than 25 student projects. She continually seeks out hands-on experiences on campus and in the surrounding community. Under her guidance, James Scholar students have completed projects with the Campus Wellness Center, the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District, and the Urbana School District, among other places. As interim director of the MPH degree program, Justine works closely with undergraduates enrolled in the joint BS-MPH program. This year, she joined the Senate Committee on University Student Life, which meets monthly to discuss such issues as mental health needs, how changes to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are impacting students, and how to balance protections of free speech with protections from bigoted speech.

Dr. Justin AronoffExcellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award: Faculty
Dr. Justin Aronoff
Associate Professor
Department of Speech and Hearing Science

Dr. Justin Aronoff joined the College of Applied Health Sciences in 2013. He incorporates a variety of teaching techniques in his classes to keep students engaged. For example, when teaching neuroanatomy he provides students with learning activities in the virtual reality lab, which helps them to understand the complex, three-dimensional anatomy of the brain. To encourage participation in large classes, he developed software that randomly calls on students. He couples this with small groups on which students who are called on can rely. The technique helps students maintain focus during class. One student observed that while the technique initially created some anxiety, she ultimately felt it had enhanced her learning of course material and she was thankful for it. In addition to soliciting student evaluations at the end of his classes, Dr. Aronoff seeks out midterm feedback, which he quickly incorporates in order to improve the class. Students describe him as supportive and passionate

Dr. Aronoff was instrumental in developing a new foundational course in the required undergraduate curriculum that focuses on communication neuroscience. He mentors undergraduate students in all aspects of research in his Binaural Hearing Lab, from concept development and experimental design to data collection, analysis, and dissemination. He has mentored 10 undergraduate research projects, and has included undergraduates in more than 20 conference presentations and six refereed journal articles, sometimes as first authors. He has taken undergraduate students with him to national meetings and introduced them to scholars from other institutions, which has led to many students continuing their involvement in research after graduation.

 

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