Fourteen faculty members celebrating service milestones of 40 and 30 years will be recognized during the annual faculty meeting at 4 p.m. April 23 in the Durham Research Center Auditorium.
Below, two honorees share memorable moments:
John Windle, M.D., associate professor, cardiology, reminiscences over his 30-year career at UNMC.
Chancellor to speak
UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., will give his annual address to the faculty at 4 p.m. on April 23 in the Durham Research Center Auditorium as part of the annual faculty meeting. Faculty Senate President Gay Canaris, M.D., assistant professor, internal medicine, College of Medicine, will provide an overview of the year’s activities. Following the address and the award presentations, Dr. Gold will host a reception in the center’s foyer.
Awards will be presented for Outstanding Teacher, Spirit of Community Service, Outstanding Faculty Mentor of Graduate Students and Outstanding Mentor of Junior Faculty, as well as the University of Nebraska’s Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award (OTICA) and Outstanding Research and Creative Activity (ORCA) Award. Faculty members also will be recognized for their 5, 10, 20, 30 and 40 years of service.
“I was recruited to UNMC by Dr. Mike Sorrell in 1985 to start the cardiac arrhythmia service. When I started at the hospital it had a two-bed telemetry unit located on 5 West in the University Tower. The beds were monitored on an oscilloscope, a device that displayed but could not record electrograms (EKG strips). Over the next five years, we expanded to eight, then 16, then 32 beds. The hospital now has more than 200 telemetry beds.
“Our average length of stay for patients with ventricular tachycardia was 21 days. In 1987, we implanted our first implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. We had to custom order the device to the precise settings we wanted because it was not programmable. It was so big and heavy it had to be put in the abdomen. Today, the devices are much smaller, fit under the collar bone and can communicate with us from the patient’s home. The patients now can be sent home the same day!
“Pretty remarkable changes in 30 years. What hasn’t changed is the caring and compassionate care that patients receive at UNMC.”
Patricia Hageman, Ph.D., professor, physical therapy education, shares her favorite memories from the past 30 years.
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Patricia Hageman, Ph.D. |
“My interactions with my mentors, SAHP Associate Deans (Reba) Benschoter and (Mary) Haven, gave me confidence in accepting leadership roles within academia. My research collaborations with colleagues in the College of Nursing (Carol Pullen and Melody Hertzog) and at UNL (Linda Boeckner) are extra special, as we grew together as a team to investigate behavior change interventions for improving the health of rural women in Nebraska.
“A career highlight was in 2006 when the Physical Therapy Education faculty and staff were recognized with the University-wide Departmental Teaching Award, which acknowledged their unique and significant contributions to teaching and recognized their outstanding esprit de corps in its dedication to the education of students. Being part of such a wonderful team – is priceless.”