All SHS students complete external internships, strengthening real-world skills and career pathways
All SHS students are required to take part in external placements, which are essentially internships with an external organization (Photo by Brian Stauffer)
Students in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science in the College of Applied Health Sciences expect excellent instruction in the classroom. When they venture off campus, however, is when they get a better sense of the career paths they might choose.
All SHS students are required to take part in external placements, which are essentially internships with an external organization. For some students in the master’s program for Speech-Language Pathology, external placements might begin as early as their second semester, said Noa Hannah, director of the audiology and speech-language pathology clinic in SHS. On the audiology side, said Clinical Assistant Professor Sadie Braun, students are given external placements in the summer after their first year in the four-year program.
“I think that our external placements are really the first place that our students get a sense of what audiology is like in the real world,” Braun said. “I think that’s when a lot starts to gel between what they’re learning in their academic classes and what they’re doing in clinic—that starts to come together when they get to their external placements.”
Hannah, who joined the university in 2019 and became clinic director in 2020, agreed, calling external placements “pivotal.”
“They’re pivotal in their learning because there’s only so much we can teach within the clinic,” Hannah said. “Going out on these externals is about professionalism, but … it’s really about understanding different cultures—different cultures of schools, different cultures of hospitals, different supervisory styles than what we have here at the university. So it’s pivotal in their learning how to apply their skills to new patient populations as well as new environments.”
Braun said audiology students gain experience in environments that we just can’t simulate within the SHS clinic environment.
“For example, we send them to a hearing aid manufacturer to get experience with the manufacturer side of things, or to a private practice or a big hospital so they get to see different environments audiologists can practice in and figure out where they might want to start in their first job,” she said.
Hannah said external placements give students the opportunity to deal with different patient populations, such as patients with dementia or traumatic brain injuries, or patients who have had strokes.
Braun said the external placements also help students to increase their independence and competence in using their skills.
There are also benefits for the organizations, such as hospitals and clinics, in which the students are placed.
“I think a lot of professionals just appreciate having some input in shaping the future of our field,” Braun said. “And when we send our students who have more experience, like a third-year audiology student, sometimes they can utilize that student who can be more independent to get a little bit of extra work done themselves.”
Braun said the external placements can also be a job “pipeline,” as some students are hired right out of their fourth-year placements.
For some UIUC alumni, it is a chance to give back, Hannah said.
“I have heard that they want input into teaching the next generation and I think the other thing is, people like teaching. People like sharing their knowledge … a lot of professionals enjoy that part of their profession and maybe don’t get that opportunity as often as they would like. This is a way to give back to a program that’s helped them to be successful.”
Any organization that is willing to act as an external placement for students in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science is encouraged to email Noa Hannah.
Two projects led by AHS researchers received grants as part of the university’s 2021-2022 Call to Action to Address Racism & Social Injustice Research Program.
The first, with KCH Associate Professor Andiara Schwingel as the principal investigator, is entitled “Online Certificate Programs for Community Health Workers (CHW): From overlooked and under-researched employees to well-equipped frontline agents in the fight to reduce health disparities in communities of color.”
Using a community-based participatory research approach, Schwingel and her team—which includes KCH Assistant Professor Susie Aguinaga—plan to establish a coalition that includes CHWs, Illinois researchers, University of Illinois Extension, and the Illinois Community Health Workers Association (ILCHWA) to develop, evaluate, and disseminate online learning strategies through certificate programs that will train CHWs to address their community health needs. Funding for the project is $100,000.
Currently in Illinois, the researchers say, the CHW field largely depends on employer-provided on-the-job training. There is no standardization and the length and scope of training varies a great deal from employer to employer. The key deliverables include a series of online certificate programs available in both English and Spanish.
Other collaborators are Brandi Barnes, Research Development Manager, Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute; Jennifer McCaffrey, Assistant Dean, Family and Consumer Sciences, Illinois Extension; Ruby Mendenhall, Associate Professor in Sociology, African American Studies, Urban and Regional Planning, and Social Work; Leticia Boughton Price, CEO/President, Illinois Community Health Workers Association, and Wandy Hernandez-Gordon, Cofounder/VP, Illinois Community Health Workers Association.
The second, with RST Professor Monika Stodolska as the PI and RST Professor Kim Shinew as the co-PI, is entitled, “Combating Systemic Racism in Access to Nature, Open Spaces, and Parks and Recreation Resources.” Corky Emberson and Elsie Hedgspeth of the Urbana Park District are the community collaborators. The grant amount is $93,428.
The study will provide a formal evaluation of the steps undertaken by the Urbana Park District to better serve their residents of color, identify additional strategies UPD can employ to engage local residents of color, and create a road map for other public recreation and natural resource agencies across the U.S. on how to address systemic racism in access to nature and recreational resources among people of color.
RST undergraduate and graduate students will be involved in the study through interview/questionnaire development, data collection and analyses, and implementation and dissemination findings. The study’s primary deliverable, the Strategies to Address Racism and Social Injustice in Recreation (SARSIR) blueprint, will be integrated into the curriculum in general education and core courses (RST 120: Parks, Recreation and Environments, RST 230: Diversity in Recreation, Sport and Tourism, and RST 317: Designing Parks and Recreation Experiences) and students will be able to implement the blueprint through their experiential coursework and internships.
Justin Aronoff’s study will provide insight into how the binaural auditory system combines signals from the two ears. (Photo provided)
Bilateral cochlear implants are used to provide hearing to both ears for deaf children and adults, as well as provide binaural hearing. But the benefits of bilateral implants can be hampered by poor integration of the devices’ left and right inputs. Thanks to an R01 grant, Department of Speech and Hearing Science associate professor Justin Aronoff has a plan to combat that.
Aronoff was awarded a $1.57 million grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders for his project “The contributions of interaurally correlated signals and interaurally symmetric place of stimulation for the binaural auditory system.” The proposed study will provide insight into how the binaural auditory system combines signals from the two ears and lay the groundwork for a shift in how and when clinicians program bilateral cochlear implant users’ devices to maximize binaural benefits.
Aronoff has just begun data collection, and recently gave a demonstration of some of the study’s testing, with research assistant Simin “Tina” Soleimanifar as the subject.
In Aronoff’s lab, Tina, who does not have a cochlear implant, sat next to a scope where she can see the signal that is coming out of a cochlear implant.
“The first thing that we need to do when we’re testing a cochlear implant patient is the same thing that you would do if you go into the (audiology) clinic,” Aronoff said. “And that’s basically setting what are the comfort and safety levels.”
As Aronoff explains, the simulations of cochlear implants are not really simulations of what it would sound like to cochlear implant users. “Most of them are just simulations of what it would sound like to only have 22 notes on your piano,” he said, “but everything has to be done on those 22 notes. That’s all you can hear. … (Renowned researcher) David Landsberger (said) listening with the cochlear implant is like playing the piano with a ping pong paddle.’ That you’re hitting a bunch of notes at once. And so if I turn off an electrode, that paddle gets a little wider for all the other notes. That’s the way to think about it.”
For Aronoff, the potential impact is deeply motivating. “Our ultimate aim is to improve speech perception in noise for cochlear implant users,” he said. “Being able to follow conversations in noisy environments is one of the biggest challenges they face, and we hope this technology can make a meaningful difference in their everyday lives.”
To understand what the signal from the cochlear implant actually is, you need to use a scope. Aronoff said the scope is connected to breakout boards, which allow him to tap the output from each electrode and put it on a scope and record it, to make sure the signal is what he thinks it is. Different devices have a different number of electrodes, Aronoff said. He was working with a cochlear device during this test run, which has 22 electrodes. During the test, he gradually increases the amount of stimulation until Tina can see something on the scope.
Aronoff compared the electrodes to shining a flashlight beam.
“As you walk away from a wall that you’re shining a flashlight beam on, the beam gets wider and wider. And these are fairly far away from the wall. What that means is if you have two flashlight beams right next to each other, they illuminate mostly the same spot on the wall. There’s a little difference on the edges, but they’re mostly overlapping. And that’s what’s happening as well with these electrodes. And so that’s why when you go from one electrode to the next, you’re stimulating most of the same neurons.”
One of the most important issues Aronoff hopes to tackle with this grant is about perception of interaural time differences (ITDs) and interaural level differences (ILDs), which limit the ability of bilateral cochlear implant users to localize sounds and understand speech in noisy environments.
“This is actually a big question of the grant,” he said. “We know for a pitch that it is very malleable. That over time whatever I tell you in your map, whichever electrodes get the same frequencies in the outside world will start sounding the same in terms of pitch. We don’t know if that’s true for ITDs and ILDs. That if the best electrodes paired together change over time or not. It definitely seems to be less malleable. We don’t know if it’s malleable at all. And that’s a big purpose of this grant, to see if that correlated input only affects the pitch that you hear, or if it’s affecting the entire auditory system.”
Another issue is that people who have two cochlear implants don’t always hear one coherent sound from the two ears. They will sometimes hear a left ear sound and a right ear sound, Aronoff said.
“If you’re listening over headphones and one of them is bad, the way to tell is you lift one up. You can’t be like, ‘Oh, I can hear it’s the left one that’s bad. You have to lift one up.’ That’s how well things fuse together into one perception. Now, for cochlear implant users, that’s often not the case. They often do not have things fusing together completely. And so that’s one thing that we look at. There’s big benefits to it.”
The benefit of having bilateral cochlear implants is more than just having a backup if one implant goes out, Aronoff said. They will allow you to hear better in noisy environments.
“If you’re listening to someone who’s across the table from you and there’s background noise, being able to spatially separate out where are the speakers from everyone else helps you. And having two ears gives you that ability. If you only have one ear, you cannot tell something’s coming from the left or the right. So two ears is really what you need. And most cochlear implant users can localize reasonably well. Not as good as normal hearing listeners, but reasonably well. So that’s a big benefit of having two ears as well. There’s other things in terms of when someone comes up on one side of you. If it’s on the side that doesn’t have a cochlear implant, you might not even know they’re talking to you. There’s a lot of benefits of having two instead of one.
Getting a good measure of fusion has been one of the more challenging aspects of the project, Aronoff said, since fusion is a central idea to the grant, and because everyone has a different idea of what fusion means.
“A lot of the other things are largely predicated on this idea that you hear it as a coherent sound,” he said. “You can’t localize a sound if it sounds like it’s coming from both ears. And so, yeah, fusion is very central to this grant. And so we have a lot of experiments where we are looking at that fusion and how different things affect it. “
Students in the College of Applied Health Sciences have the opportunity to do their internships in a variety of fields. Today, we speak with Cecilia Kattan, a student in the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences program in KCH, about her internship.
Cecilia Kattan, left, aspires to be a physician’s assistant
Q: Where did you complete your internship and what was your experience?
A: I completed my internship at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health Department in partnership with the maternal & child health department and community nutrition initiatives. My role at my internship was a hybrid of administration and observation. Some examples of projects I completed are: social media management, breastfeeding incentive program with the peer lactation consultant, coordinating with sponsors for the Mommy and Baby Expo, created an employer breastfeeding friendly certification toolkit, and led a grant proposal and presentation for the Carle HealthMaker Lab. I was also given the opportunity to shadow WIC consultations.
Q: How did you apply for the internship?
A: I applied via the C-UPHD internship website, followed by an interview with the director of the department, Valerie Koress.
Q: What did you learn from the internship?
A: I was given insight on how public health departments operate and allocate resources efficiently. In addition, I got an up-close look into the racial disparities experienced in our community and aided in the progression of initiatives to fill those healthcare gaps.
Q: What was your biggest takeaway from the experience?
A: My biggest takeaway was realizing the different levels of organizations that contribute to community health and the discrepancy in funding.
Q: Is this internship closely related to the field you are hoping to work in?
A: My internship gave me valuable experience working in maternal and child health, since women’s health is an interest of mine. As a future Physician Assistant I will be able to understand the value of non-clinical grassroots initiatives. In addition, community service is one of my intrinsic pillars. Therefore, I hope to participate in some of these initiatives in my future career.
Q: Would you like to share any other information that might be helpful for future I-Health students?
A: You get out what you put into your internship. My role was not clearly defined for me since I was the first intern since the arrival of the new director. Hence, I made it a point to do weekly check-ins with my preceptor, Valerie, to ensure I was being helpful. Remember to use your voice and advocate for yourself to ensure you have a valuable experience.
Students in the College of Applied Health Sciences have the opportunity to do their internships in a variety of fields. Today, we speak with Jackie Buczkowski, a student in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, about her internship.
Jackie Buczkowski demonstrates different exercises for patients.
Q: Where did you complete your internship and what was your experience?
A: I completed my internship at Active Rehab Clinics in Bucktown, a neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois. Initially, I began shadowing the head chiropractor of the clinic and his assistant. I observed the chiropractor while he worked hands-on with his patients and observed his assistant while he coached the patients through various exercises pertaining to their injury. After two to three months of observation, I began working with patients myself. I was taught the Burdenko Method which consists of a series of exercises used to treat patients on land and in water. Throughout the fall 2020 semester, I worked with patients at the clinic in Bucktown as well as out of Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois.
Q: How did you apply for the internship?
A: Since I completed my internship during the summer and fall of COVID-19, I did not apply for this internship as a student conventionally would. My cousin is a patient of the chiropractor and asked if he was allowing students to shadow during this time. However, when I have shadowed previous physical therapists I would typically reach out through email. I have also dropped off my resume at a few different locations to see if they would allow me to shadow. More often than not they would agree! Since physical therapists understand shadowing is a requirement in order to apply to PT school, they are very understanding and willing to help.
Q: What did you learn from the internship?
A: This internship was the most fulfilling internship I’ve had so far. I learned to trust my judgment and to not be embarrassed of being incorrect or struggling to learn something new. I was often quizzed and asked questions before being told the answer. This style of teaching helped stimulate my brain which overall felt more interactive. I wasn’t simply watching passively but rather actively engaging in assessing a patient.
Q: What was your biggest takeaway from the experience?
A: My biggest takeaway from this experience is understanding that every patient is different. What might work for one patient may not work for the other. Although you’re taught to go by the book in some cases, you may need to think outside the box in other scenarios. It was fascinating for me to see the chiropractor and his assistant not only assess the part of the body that was injured or had pain but to go beyond that and see if another part of the body was actually causing that pain. For example, if a young athlete was having pain in her knee, they would rehab her hip and build strength there.
Q: Is this internship closely related to the field you are hoping to work in?
A: This internship is closely related to the field I want to go into which is physical therapy. Although I shadowed a licensed chiropractor, he also specializes in rehabilitation. In my previous experiences I shadowed physical therapists at hospitals and chain outpatient clinics such as Athletico, however, this experience was different because it was a privately owned clinic. In many ways this faces its own challenges because billing and scheduling is in your control. I was able to see the “behind the scenes” of what owning your own business might look like.
Q: Would you like to share any other information that might be helpful for future Kinesiology students?
A: The advice I recommend to any Kinesiology student is to reach out to any company or any specific person you’d like to shadow or intern for! Internships are truly the best opportunity to figure out whether or not you really want to go into a certain field. I’ve shadowed many physical therapists and have learned something new from each of them. They inspire me to finish school and start doing what I believe to be the best career there is for me. With a bachelor’s in Kinesiology there are many career paths you can take and you want to find which fits you best!
The Chez Veterans Center at Illinois serves more than 550 military-connected students
(from left) Dean Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell, Chancellor Robert Jones and Chez’s Garrett Anderson
The University of Illinois was designated Friday as a Purple Heart university, awarded the honor because of the university’s longstanding commitment to military veterans.
“This university has a tradition unlike any other that goes far beyond just remembering those who lost their lives in service,” Chancellor Robert Jones said. “This has been a place of world-changing ideas, innovations and, sometimes just plain old hard-headed determination to help those who come home to find success in their educational hopes and to lead lives and careers of impact after they earn their degree.”
Illinois was the first university to call for compulsory military training at all land grant colleges, as part of the Morrill Act of 1862, and developed the first post-secondary disability support service program in the world for Veterans. Established by Dr. Tim Nugent, this program allowed injured World War II veterans to use their GI Bill benefits for higher education.
In 2015, UIUC opened the doors at the Chez Veterans Center to provide an open, welcoming space for all student veterans and military-connected communities.
“During my tenure as dean of the College of Applied Health Sciences, I have had many opportunities to feel proud of leading such an outstanding unit. Today, that pride deepens with this truly humbling recognition by the Military Order of the Purple Heart,” said AHS Dean Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell.
“The commitment of this college and this university to helping wounded veterans pursue their degrees goes back more than 70 years, when Dr. Timothy Nugent established the very first support program in higher education for World War two veterans with disabilities. At a time when people in wheelchairs were not expected or encouraged to attend college and dream of careers, Dr. Nugent said, “Why not?”’
The Chez Veterans Center is the largest, most comprehensive facility of its kind in the United States, and serves more than 550 military-connected students.
“AHS continues to be the unwavering force pushing us forward to do more and to find new and better ways to open doors of access and success to the student-veterans who trust this university with their academic futures,” Chancellor Jones said.
The event was well-attended and VIPs included Matt Janes from the office of Congressman Rodney Davis; State Senator Scott Bennett; State Senator Chapin Rose; State Representative Mike Marron; State Representative Brad Halbrook, Champaign Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen, members of the Chez Veterans Center advisory board, and members of the Veterans Assistance Commission and Department of Veterans Affairs.
Alumni of the College of Applied Health Sciences have myriad career options thanks to the tremendous diversity of programs. We periodically will put the spotlight on an alum to find out what they’re doing now, what experiences they had and what AHS means to them. This week, we talk to Tim Clary, who got his undergrad (2015) and master’s degrees (2016) from the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism. Currently, Clary is an educator and linebackers coach for a Class 6A High School near Austin, Texas.
Q. Why did you pick AHS?
A: In high school, I knew I wanted to be an Athletic Director/Coordinator, and AHS provided the pathway to doing that with Sports Management.
Q: Which professors had the most impact on you?
A; Dr. (Michael) Raycraft: A personable man that would lead with honesty but connect on a level that helped you understand the intricate complexities within RST. Also, Nuno Ribeiro: he was a man that helped me a ton even after I graduated. He taught me about his life experiences and how they shaped his life in hopes it could influence mine.
Q: What course did you most enjoy?
A: Two courses equally, both taught by Dr. Raycraft. One, Sports Management and two, Sports Ethics.
Q: Did you enter AHS knowing your career path, or did AHS help you decide?
A: I entered knowing I wanted to be in athletics in some capacity.
Q: What was your favorite on-campus experience?
A: Most of my time was taken up by athletics; I did appreciate the study sessions in the underground library prepping for some of the harder courses (Research Methods).
Q: What does AHS mean to you?
A: I’m thankful for my time in AHS. Led by many wonderful professors and provided the path to achieving my goal of becoming an athletic director one day.
Forber-Pratt’s research is focused on disability identity, inclusion, disability sport, and work related to disability activism
SHS alum Anjali Forber-Pratt named director of the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research
Anjali Forber-Pratt, who earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Department of Speech and Hearing Science in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois, has been named as director of the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR).
Forber-Pratt, most recently an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University, is an elite wheelchair racer, having won two bronze medals at the 2008 Summer Paralympic Games in Beijing, China. She also represented Team USA in London at the 2012 Paralympic Games.
Her research is focused on disability identity, inclusion, disability sport, and work related to disability activism. Forber-Pratt holds a B.S. in Speech and Hearing Sciences, an M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology, and a Ph.D. in Human Resource Development, all from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
A two-time Paralympian and medalist in the sport of wheelchair racing, Dr. Forber-Pratt has dedicated her life to helping others recognize their potential. Globally, she is involved with disability advocacy efforts related to access to employment, education and sports. She was honored with the inaugural American Psychological Association Citizen Psychologist Award for Advancing Disability as a Human Rights and Social Justice Issue Award in 2020 and was recognized by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education as a 2018 Emerging Scholar. In 2013, she was awarded the American Association of People with Disabilities’ prestigious Paul G. Hearne Leadership Award, given to emerging leaders within the national disability community. Also in 2013, she was named a Champion of Change by the White House and had an opportunity to participate in a roundtable discussion with President Obama about disability policy issues.
“I am extremely honored and humbled by this appointment as well as the opportunity to serve our country,” Forber-Pratt said in a statement. “From my U of I days, I distinctly remember being explicitly taught that we had an obligation as alums to make the world a better place and to be ambassadors, especially for the broader disability community. Dr. Timothy Nugent taught us that, and my coach Adam Bleakney and others reinforced that every day—it was always more than just our athletic journey or just our academic journey. Many of us have found our own unique ways to embody that—I believe serving as Director of the National Institute of Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research is one way that I will continue to try to serve the broader disability community and educate others. I believe my collective training—with two degrees in Speech & Hearing Sciences as well as my PhD in education that taught me the analytic research skills—it truly is the combination of these degrees and U of I experiences and my own lived experiences as a proud disabled alum that position me well to transition into this role.”
Forber-Pratt served as principal investigator for research projects covering a range of disability issues, including training of special education teachers, experiences of students with disabilities at every education level, and identity development. She has authored 33 peer-reviewed journal articles and is the author or co-author of a number of textbook chapters.
Students are attending college in a unique environment, and that includes students in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois. The AHS communications staff spoke with AHS seniors about online classes, truncated courses and how COVID-19 changed their expectations. Today, we speak with Falguni Deshpande, who graduated in May with a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences.
Photo by caption
Q: Why did you pick I-Health?
A: I was unhappy in my previous major and my sister told me to meet with her previous advisor Beth (Frasca). I met up with Beth on the first day of my sophomore year and saw how welcoming the college of Applied Health Sciences is, which made me realize I wanted to transfer into this college. I knew about I-Health because my sister had majored in it, and I decided on majoring in I-Health because I was interested in expanding my knowledge about health and the ways in which our society and environment influence our health and wellbeing.
Q: Which professors had the most impact on you?
A: The (person) that had the most impact on me was my advisor Beth (Frasca). She has always been so supportive of me ever since I transferred into I-Health, and has helped me so much with figuring out my college life and also my future! She is the reason why I was able to make the switch into I-Health and is also the one who encouraged me to apply for the Health Technology master’s program at our university.
Q: What course did you most enjoy?
A: 3. CHLH 470: Technology, Health, and Aging—this class is what made me interested in the field of health technology! The professor Dr. (Tim) Hale was super amazing and I really enjoyed getting to work with a group on a project where we created a health technology product to solve a health issue.
Q: Did you enter I-Health knowing your career path, or did KCH help you decide?
A: 4. When I transferred into I-Health, my original plan was to go to medical school, but my time in I-Health made me realize how interested I was in helping serve diverse populations and also health technology! After talking with my advisor Beth and other people in I-Health, I decided that I wanted to work in the health care field for a few years before going straight to medical school.
Q: What do you hope to do after you graduate?
A: After I graduate, I will be spending another year at the University of Illinois pursuing a Master of Science in Health Technology. After that, I plan on finding a job in the health care field (hopefully related to health technology) and eventually apply for medical school!
Q: What was your favorite on-campus experience?
A: My favorite on-campus experiences are probably when I would go and explore new parts of campus that I had never been to before! As a freshman I lived in Snyder Hall on Peabody Dr, and one time I decided to walk with some friends down the road and I saw the Krannert Art Museum! I would definitely recommend going there, along with Japan House at the Arboretum!
Q: What do you miss most because of the pandemic?
A: I miss attending in-person classes and the walk to/between classes. I loved getting to know new people and saying hi to them if I see them on the quad. I also miss getting to hang out with my friends and doing in-person volunteering through my service organization.
Q: What are the biggest changes on campus, pre and during COVID?
A: The biggest change I noticed was the culture of campus. Before COVID, you would always see so many people hanging out outside on the quad, whether it be chilling with friends, playing sports, or studying. Now, many people tend to stay inside because most of their classes are online. During my entire senior year, I only had one in-person class, which was IHLT 475!
Q: What would you say to recommend I-Health to a prospective student?
A: I would tell a prospective student that the I-Health major really gives you a holistic view of health and helps expand your understanding of what health is and how it incorporates the different social determinants of health. If you plan on pursuing a career in the field of health and health care, I-Health is the perfect major for you!
Students are attending college in a unique environment, and that includes students in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois. The AHS communications staff spoke with AHS seniors about online classes, truncated courses and how COVID-19 changed their expectations. Today, we speak with Falguni Deshpande, who graduated in May with a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences.
Q: Why did you pick I-Health?
A: I was unhappy in my previous major and my sister told me to meet with her previous advisor Beth (Frasca). I met up with Beth on the first day of my sophomore year and saw how welcoming the college of Applied Health Sciences is, which made me realize I wanted to transfer into this college. I knew about I-Health because my sister had majored in it, and I decided on majoring in I-Health because I was interested in expanding my knowledge about health and the ways in which our society and environment influence our health and wellbeing.
Q: Which professors had the most impact on you?
A: The (person) that had the most impact on me was my advisor Beth (Frasca). She has always been so supportive of me ever since I transferred into I-Health, and has helped me so much with figuring out my college life and also my future! She is the reason why I was able to make the switch into I-Health and is also the one who encouraged me to apply for the Health Technology master’s program at our university.
Q: What course did you most enjoy?
A: 3. CHLH 470: Technology, Health, and Aging—this class is what made me interested in the field of health technology! The professor Dr. (Tim) Hale was super amazing and I really enjoyed getting to work with a group on a project where we created a health technology product to solve a health issue.
Q: Did you enter I-Health knowing your career path, or did KCH help you decide?
A: 4. When I transferred into I-Health, my original plan was to go to medical school, but my time in I-Health made me realize how interested I was in helping serve diverse populations and also health technology! After talking with my advisor Beth and other people in I-Health, I decided that I wanted to work in the health care field for a few years before going straight to medical school.
Q: What do you hope to do after you graduate?
A: After I graduate, I will be spending another year at the University of Illinois pursuing a Master of Science in Health Technology. After that, I plan on finding a job in the health care field (hopefully related to health technology) and eventually apply for medical school!
Q: What was your favorite on-campus experience?
A: My favorite on-campus experiences are probably when I would go and explore new parts of campus that I had never been to before! As a freshman I lived in Snyder Hall on Peabody Dr, and one time I decided to walk with some friends down the road and I saw the Krannert Art Museum! I would definitely recommend going there, along with Japan House at the Arboretum!
Q: What do you miss most because of the pandemic?
A: I miss attending in-person classes and the walk to/between classes. I loved getting to know new people and saying hi to them if I see them on the quad. I also miss getting to hang out with my friends and doing in-person volunteering through my service organization.
Q: What are the biggest changes on campus, pre and during COVID?
A: The biggest change I noticed was the culture of campus. Before COVID, you would always see so many people hanging out outside on the quad, whether it be chilling with friends, playing sports, or studying. Now, many people tend to stay inside because most of their classes are online. During my entire senior year, I only had one in-person class, which was IHLT 475!
Q: What would you say to recommend I-Health to a prospective student?
A: I would tell a prospective student that the I-Health major really gives you a holistic view of health and helps expand your understanding of what health is and how it incorporates the different social determinants of health. If you plan on pursuing a career in the field of health and health care, I-Health is the perfect major for you!
Andrea Paceley is ‘indispensable,’ according to nominators. (Photo by Jerry Thompson)
The Graduate College in February announced that Andrea Paceley (Office Manager, Speech and Hearing Science) was named a winner of the 2024 Graduate College Excellence Award for Graduate Contacts. The award is given annually as part of the Graduate College’s Annual Workshop for Directors of Graduate Study and Graduate Contacts. It recognizes staff members whose service has exceeded expectations in enhancing graduate students’ experiences and has positively impacted their graduate program or department’s operations.
Paceley has served as the Office Manager in Speech and Hearing Science for more than eight years. Nominators named her an “indispensable” part of the department for her streamlining of processes, commitment to transparency and “contagious cheerfulness.” One nominator said that Andrea “has demonstrated sustained excellence in support of our graduate programs, students, and faculty.” A graduate student in Speech and Hearing Science added that “her skills, kindness, and ability to navigate challenges with grace set her apart as a truly exceptional graduate secretary.”
Graduate Contacts are essential to the success of our graduate students. They welcome students into our campus community, provide valuable support through both the good and challenging times, and celebrate students’ accomplishments. The care and compassion that Graduate Contacts demonstrate every day are an invaluable contribution to the university and its community of students, faculty, and staff. The Graduate College extends its thanks to all of our Graduate Contacts for their work in our campus community.
