Greetings from the Loyola Marymount University Department of Health and Human Sciences! Collectively, our unique family of alumni, students, staff, and faculty had an exciting year!
For the 8th year in a row, we began the year with record student enrollments! Among the notable events of the first half of the year include a large contingent of 15 students who attended the Southwest American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) conference. Here, they presented research from the past year and a select group of three of the students placed 2nd out of 17 teams in the annual quiz bowl competition! A separate group of HHSC students has recently and enthusiastically rekindled the “The Health and Human Sciences Society,” an officially recognized student organization designed to support students pursuing careers in healthcare. Supported by our Laboratory Support Associate Suchandra Ghosh and our Senior Administrative Coordinator Danielle Good the HHSC Society held their first social event, a holiday party where over 40 students, staff, and faculty attended. Guest speakers, social events, and workshops then permeated the spring. We are also thrilled to announce that through the efforts of professors Stephanie Beaudion and Yong An, a long-discussed, but never realized peer mentorship program came to pass this fall. The program grouped upper-class HHSC Interns (HHSC 495) with first-year students in “Medical Terminology and Seminar”(HHSC 190) where they engaged in supportive conversation. The program was successfully piloted in Fall 2022 with a vision of entrenching the program annually.
We entered this year with a record number of tenure-track faculty. This number occurred through the addition of two new faculty members – professors Robert Musci and Caio Sousa who replenish the void left by Professor William McCormack’s retirement and enhance our teaching and research opportunities in exercise physiology. We also offer hearty congratulations to Beaudion who had completed her 11th year of service and instruction with the department and infinite appreciation to the glue that binds us – Danielle Good who, this year, completed her 10th year of service in HHSC!
We have abundant faculty news to share as well! Just this past week, we were overjoyed to receive the news that Professor Roper had earned tenure and promotion to the rank of associate professor effective August 15 2023! In addition to being promoted, Roper is expanding her service to the professional community following her election as President of Southwest Chapter of ACSM and serving on a DEI Committee with the NSCA. While currently serving in the Dean’s Office, Professor Heather Tarleton was part of the team that received a $2.5 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to develop a program that will provide knowledge about systemic racism and its impact on the learning environment. As part of this College-wide program both professors Sousa and An will be engaged in the first cohort of a summer institute for equity-centered continuing professional development of teaching practices and student-centered assessment of academic success and inclusive experiences. Professor An successfully underwent a third-year review and has earned a sabbatical in the fall as result! Professor Almstedt served as the Research Advisor within the Honors Program at LMU and as interim member of the University Rank and Tenure Committee this spring. Almstedt was also part of a Faculty/Staff immersion sponsored by the Center for Mission and Identity to study reconciliation and social justice in South Africa this May. Professor Cappelli spent the fall on sabbatical where he productively published and/or submitted two manuscripts while developing an NIH RO3 grant submitted in the spring cycle. Upon return in the spring, he committed to the development of 1st year retention and academic enhancement pilot program for HHSC students to launch in the coming year.
As I navigate the first year of being Chair of the Department, I realize the endless list of things to be learned in this new position and I am filled with extreme gratitude for previous my predecessors, professors Strand and Almstedt, for continuously sharing their experience and insight. And last but certainly not least, congratulations to Professor Sarah Strand who was on leave this spring after the healthy arrival of Bjorn Erling Strand-Dunham who joined us in November and became the newest member of their family of six!
After many years in development and revision, we are excited to announce major changes to the curriculum of HHSC majors beginning this coming fall. One of the most exciting aspects of these revision includes the new minor in health and human sciences! Additional changes were the result of an extensive, 3-year program review and were implemented:
- to increase flexibility for students when selecting upper division HHSC courses based on their interest and post-baccalaureate plans,
- to increase student engagement in community-based equity, diversity, and justice engagement in health sciences,
- to encourage greater student involvement in research opportunities with faculty members within the department,
- to increase depth of learning in the upper division will be possible.
The spring award season came and left many gifts to share. In our second annual HHSC awards given at our Commencement Brunch, five exceptional students were recognized. Jules Abella won our Program Scholar Award for the highest GPA in the graduating class of 2023. Ella Krauss and Amira Mahomed won Co-Researchers of the Year, Sami Kuhns won our Service Award, and Jake Laubach was the recipient of the Leadership Award.
We hope this newsletter finds everyone healthy and joyful this spring season. We continue to invite all alumni to stay in touch with HHSC and LMU and appraise us of any updates in your personal and professional lives. If you have a desire to remain engaged or contribute in other ways to the department or our students, we would love to hear from you
Please contact Danielle Good danielle.good@lmu.edu if you have any questions or want further information about the department, (310) 338-7885 or via email at hhsc@lmu.edu.
Warm Regards,
Todd Shoepe, Ed.D.
Professor and Chair
Health and Human Sciences Department
