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Alumni Spotlight—Charles Burton

April 23, 2020 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

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 Charles Burton, an Recreation, Sport and Tourism undergraduate and graduate alum who is now Chief Operating Officer of the Don Moyer Boys & Girls Club in Champaign, Ill.

Q: Why did you pick AHS?

A: If you are driven by curiosity, creativity, and the desire to improve the lives of others or you are interested/fascinated by the human body and the sciences it is natural, pursue a degree in Applied Health Science. As an athlete, with a passion for helping others, I chose AHS as a springboard to gain relevant practical experience working closely with other students and professors in fast-moving environments. The college of applied health sciences equips you to implement scientific principles together with practical clinical experience toward improving quality of life for patients in the rapidly growing and ever-changing healthcare and recreational, sport and tourism industries.

Q: Why did you pick RST?

A: As previously stated, as an student-athlete, I had become to appreciate the competition, adversity, theory practice and science that is required to be successful in sports. In looking at the professional climate, Recreation, Sport & Tourism had began to grow on a world-wide scale. The NBA had become a global brand and other sports were using metrics and science to gain competitive edges in competition. Hospitality & Tourism had also began to grow with more families traveling abroad and more individuals looking to become entrepreneurs in specific sciences. The concept of leisure had been studied and were in its early stages of understanding its effects on mental health and a healthy lifestyle. In Parks & Recreation as well as Youth Development, logic models and fundamental program development principles were becoming the standard. RST allowed me to gain experience in all of these arenas and develop analytical and critical thinking skills to adapt to the fast-growing and ever-changing environment. RST provided me with the opportunity to gain necessary hard & soft skills to be able to have success in any career. The transferable skills allowed to me to be flexible in my career choices and use my passion for helping others in a variety of ways professionally.

Q: Which professors had the most impact on you?

A: It’s hard for me to name one. Each professor brought a different perspective and level of expertise, which challenged me to adapt and always look at challenges as opportunities. The professors gave me more than academic information, they gave me perspective and skills that allowed me to be successful today. Here is a quote, “The world will never stop evolving, our responsibility is to accept the discomfort with change but use it to grow/expand our knowledge through the change to create new opportunities!”

Q: What course did you most enjoy?

A: RST 501 Concepts & Applications in Recreation, Sport & Tourism. This course opens your eyes to various opportunities via a conceptual lens.

Q: Did you enter AHS knowing your career path, or did AHS help you decide?

A: I had no idea of what I wanted to do! Outside of being an athlete, I didn’t know what I was good at.

Q:Did your AHS experience lead to your current job?

A: Yes, it did. I have worked in almost every aspect of Recreation, Sport & Tourism. My current position as Director of Operations/COO requires me to work conceptually on changing critical issues, finance/budgeting, problem solving, looking for new opportunities through challenges, program development, community relations, customer services, organizational leadership, mentoring/coaching, etc. The foundation for all of these skills came from AHS.

Q: What was your favorite on-campus experience

A: The Quad! Such a beautiful space and seeing the diversity and being able to speak with and understand various cultures were amazing. Spaces like this help us come together and develop a higher level of cultural competency.

Q: What does AHS mean to you?

A: AHS means 4 P’s (Passion; Purpose: Potential; Pathways). Getting a degree from AHS will assist you with Finding your Passion, Defining your Purpose, Discovering your Potential, and Developing Pathways to a Greater Future! These are the strategies for growth and development that are used every day.

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.

Tags: alumni, Alumni Spotlight, Charles Burton

A Few Minutes With … Joe Cross

Feb. 06, 2020 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

College of Applied Health Sciences media relations specialist Vince Lara speaks with Joe Cross, a former Illinois basketball player who went on to get his PhD in education policy, organization and leadership at Illinois, about his new role as an academic skills specialist at AHS.

Listen to the podcast

Transcript

VINCE LARA: This is Vince Lara at the College of Applied Sciences at the University of Illinois. Today, I speak with Joe Cross, a former Illini basketball player who will not forget his PhD in education policy organization and leadership in Illinois, about his new role as academic skills specialist at AHS.

Joe, tell me about what led you to Illinois as a student.

JOE CROSS: Sure. Back in 1998, I was, I was playing basketball at Florida International University, down in Miami, Florida. And I had previous communications with the coach then here, Lon Kruger, who’s now the head coach at Oklahoma University.

And so had communications with him and his coaching staff. A good friend of mine, Robert McCullum, who’s his assistant coach, who’s now at FAMU, know they’re good friends of the family. He had heard about what I was doing at FIU. When he was at Florida, he had recruited me there.

When he got to the University of Illinois, he just thought it would be a good fit for me to be back at home. And I reached out to him, my family. And we thought it would be a better fit than where I was at, although I was having a great time in Miami. I knew here would put me in a position to be successful, not so much on the court, as far as going to the NBA or something like that, but does in my off the court, my career, things like that.

And so he recruited me to come in 1998, the fall, really the spring, start of the spring semester of 99, really. And that’s when I started, and that’s what brought me to Illinois, just the relationships that I had with that coaching staff, and my desire to play at the high level division 1 basketball.

And so, I like, sport management was my major there at FIU, that I was looking to go into. And I knew they had a sport major, sport management major here. It was leisure studies, really, at the time. The program was called leisure studies.

so it was like a– it was really a easy fit. I knew the majority of the players, Sergio McClain, Marcus Griffin, Robert Archibald, Brian Cook. You know, I kind of knew all those guys, Victor

And it was just really, I felt like they were my family already. So that’s kind of how I got here to Illinois. And I’ve been here ever since.

VINCE LARA: Wow. You mentioned your undergrad in sport management. I’m wondering, you transition to working with students. I wonder why you decided to do that.

JOE CROSS: Well, like most students, you know, after that undergrad degree with sport management, I just knew I had to you know, most of my jobs in high school were internships, working at, our summer jobs where we have YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, that type of thing.

And so when I got done with undergrad, I knew I was going to somehow transition into it. Really, Terry Cole, the former assistant athletic director, he had done a lot of work at the Boys and Girls Club, Boys and Girls Club here. And he was just like, Joe, I think this would be a awesome fit.

And I did some summer internships or experiences with Boys and Girls Club, as a community service stuff, and things like that. However, my the director of Academic Services at the time was Tom, who was my academic advisor too, I saw what he did as an academic advisor, and for the athletic department. And I was just, I was in awe of just the type of impact that he was making with all the athletes, you know, and how he just mentored. Because he played here at the University of Illinois at the time as well during the early 90s.

And so I saw him, how he mentors students and in the classroom, but not only in the classroom, in their sports, basketball, or track, or whatever, wrestling, and how he was just a mentor to them. And so I wanted to do– although Boys and Girls Club was great, and I wanted to be a mentor for the kids in the community, and the YMCA and things like that.

Joe DeLucia is over the parks Champaign Parks and Rec here. And so I was good friends with him, and did some work with him, community work with him. And so I had different avenues I could go into. But this piece that working with the student athletes, and being a sort of counselor, advisor, mentor, that really intrigued me.

And so I really talked to Tim Heichel about that. And he really started me on the path to being an academic advisor, and with DIA, Intercollegiate Athletics. And I actually loved my experiences there. And I did that for seven years. I was over football for a few years, working with under Ron Zook and his staff.

And so I got some really the experiences working with a variety of teams, softball and baseball and track and gymnastics and those types of areas. And I had an awesome time with that.

Well that led me over to the College of Education, where I was an academic advisor, and also working on Ph.D work, there in EPO, Education Policy Organization leadership.

And so a good friend of my, mentor, Dr. James Anderson, and Dr. Chris and Dr. Bill Trent and those guys is really who have been mentors since I’ve been here the University of Illinois, and they got me over there working in advising. And I finished the PhD program over there, which in turn kind of brought me full circle. I did a postdoc in IGB Institute for Genomic Biology, and on their outreach team there, working with the community and getting the community K through 12 students interested in STEM fields and things like that, and worked working with a guy, Bruce Fouke, Dr. Bruce Fouke over at IGB.

And once this position opened up in applied sciences, working with the IGB program, I knew Mannie Jackson. I know him. And there’s been an alum of the university, and knew his vision for the program. And once I found out who was over it, and April Carter, just the relationship, really just, you know, just, you know, it was just a good fit for me. Again, so I was really, really appreciative.

VINCE LARA: You mentioned, iLeap. And you know, the campus in general, UIUC, it’s one of the most diverse in the country, might be the most diverse. And I wonder, what does the university do well to attract students of color, in your opinion?

JOE CROSS: Sure. I mean, what attracts things of color is the faculty of color, is the people in leadership positions of color. Reg, Dr. Reggie Austin– and I mean, I’ve known him for quite some time. So when you can see people that look like you, talk like you, act like you, walk like you, think like you, process, you know, things like you, problem solve like you, can relate to your situation, you get drawn in.

It’s not any rocket science. You know, historically black colleges and universities get the numbers that they get, and they attract the people who they attract, is because they can say hey, you know, I come from where you come from. I think like you think. I understand how you process things. And this is how I made it out of my situation, or this is how I’m able to further my situation, and whether if it’s a great situation.

And so U of I does an awesome job in this, especially with our students. We see we see that because they can come right into our university and have a family right away, and to see people interact with people that come from similar backgrounds. And I think applied sciences sizes does a great job in doing that, and showing our students that balance and diversity.

VINCE LARA: Now what do you see your role at iLeap being?

JOE CROSS: Sure. Our basic role is to help students be successful in their academic experiences here while in college and at the university. I mean that’s what Mannie L. Jackson want this to be, where he had a place to come. And even though maybe were the university didn’t look all like him.

He was one of very few, and the only, you know, one of the only black athletes on his team, basketball players, he saw, he found a home, you know, at this college. And he talks very highly of about college. And so that’s what I want to make every student that’s a first generation student does.

You know, African-American, Latino, you know, those types of students, whether you have underrepresented in whatever area, I want to make sure that you’re comfortable in this space whenever you come in, that this is a safe haven for you, that you can get the resources that you need, get the help that you need, the assistance that you need, in order to continue to be here at the university.

We have so many students that are going through so many different things. They just need to know I can come to a place where I feel safe, I feel respected, and I know that I can get the answer to my question, or they can lead me directly to the answer to my questions.

VINCE LARA: Now as a former athlete yourself, you were in leisure sciences, as you said, what they called AHS back then. And AHS has a reputation for drawing a lot of students a lot of student athletes, Reggie Corbin, for example, Oluwole Betiku, right, guys who have spoken really highly of the RST program in general. What do you think is the pipeline that helps that, keep that going?

JOE CROSS: Well, their main interest is sport. And so that was the common interest. As a kid, I didn’t grow up knowing about sport management. Oh, I want to go into sport management as a major. No, I didn’t. I didn’t know about the major at all. You know, not until I got to college and I started messing around with different genetics, and then I found out– I went, wait, what is sport management? What is it all about?

And so I think that they’re attractive because it’s right up their alley. I mean, anytime that you can talk, if your sports minded person, and you’re talking about sports the majority of the time– you know, but a lot of people didn’t understand. You, you know, sport management deals a lot with– the management is the business yeah part of it.

And that’s really intriguing to a lot of students, because sports is a business, especially now that we’re moving into an age where see that these are, you know, maybe able to get paid for their likeness, you know, pretty soon. I mean, it’s a business to them. They have to market themselves.

VINCE LARA: For sure.

JOE CROSS: And sport management is a wonderful, gives you the background, wonderful background and intellect into that area. So I’m even, now that know that the, sports has gone into a different era, into a different genre, I think that this next generation of student will even look more favorably upon sport management. Because you know, it’s a business.

VINCE LARA: Now what do you see, what’s your role post graduation for these students? Like, how much can you follow them, and what does that outreach look like?

JOE CROSS: Sure. I mean, of course you want to stay with the students as much as you can, to help them into their career. My position right now is just to, in this area, just to make sure that they have the best experience possible while they’re here in college, with our students, whether they’re the athletes, not athletes, because we do have non-athletes in the iLeap program.

It’s really just to, you know, for first and second year students, to make sure that they have a good footing, a good foundation, you know, while they’re here.

Of course, yes, I’ve only been here for a short time. And I want to make those relationships and build those relationships, where you know, whoever is working with the Bulls, or whoever’s working with the Blues, you know, Dallas, or whoever’s working with whomever over at Indy, the Colts or whatever, we can still stay in that communication. Or if they’re in the medical field, there’s some type of way.

Or they’re out with the community, solving some pretty big health issues, that I could be working with them as well.

I just got here. So I would love to broaden that, and help those students when they graduate.

VINCE LARA: What do you, you’ve said you, you’ve only been here a short time. But what’s your favorite part of the job so far?

JOE CROSS: The interaction with the students.

VINCE LARA: Yeah.

JOE CROSS: Oh man. I mean, I come from– I miss that. For the two last two years, I was able to publish some writings and things like that while I was working on my postdoc. But I had little to no interaction with the students.

And that’s immediately what I found like, man, that makes my day. On students just, you build that relationship with students. And they can come in and out of your office. The door is always open. And they just drop by. Just, you know, just saying hello. You know, just so many students, it’s the first day of classes today.

So many students have come by, just say what’s up, Joe? How are you doing? Happy New Year. This is what I did during break. You know, so, so much fun. Or I’m so glad to be back. I hated being at home. I’m so glad to be back in my own apartment, you know, in my own bed, you know, and stuff like that. Just hearing those stories, and they’re ready for the semester to start.

You know, that’s really what I really enjoy.

VINCE LARA: My thanks to today’s guest, Joe Cross. For more episodes of A Few Minutes With, please go to iHeart Radio, Spotify, iTunes, by Buzzsprout, and other places where you can hear podcasts, and search A Few Minutes With.

Tags: A Few Minutes With, Joe Cross, Podcast

Day one of Sapora Symposium about Grange

Nov. 21, 2019 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Red Grange legacy celebrated; RST students urged toward professional passion

*RST students, wearing replicas of Red Grange’s jersey, gather around his statue in Grange Grove (Photo by Fred Zwicky)*

The first day of the 16th annual Sapora Symposium was intended to be a tribute to Red Grange, the former Illini football star who put college football and the NFL on the map in the 1920s.

And while Grange was a main subject of the afternoon panel, so was the message from other speakers from the College of Applied Health Sciences and the Recreation, Sport and Tourism Department about the futures of most of the student attendees.

AHS Dean Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell, RST department head Carla Santos and Illini basketball coach Brad Underwood all implored RST students to embrace the opportunities that Sapora afforded them, while bracing for the careers that await them.

“This is your first opportunity for professional development,” Dean Hanley-Maxwell said to the 350 students and other guests at the Colonnade Club within Memorial Stadium. “RST has given students like you an extraordinary opportunity to learn from and network with people you might work with. You are tomorrow’s leaders. How will you learn from what you hear? Will it spark a passion in you?”

Coach Underwood, whose son Tyler is an RST student with a concentration in sport management, spoke about the rewards in industries that come with an RST degree, but also warned of the sacrifices and struggles.

“I was 26 years in the profession before I became a head Division I basketball coach. I’ve gone backward in salary several times,” the third-year Illinois coach said. “But I have never worked a day in my life. This is a passion. What you’re getting ready to take on in life, is very, very special.

“It’s an extremely competitive field. Don’t be bashful, don’t be shy. You don’t make it in this field that way. (But) don’t let it be work, let it be a passion.”

The Grange panelists then took center stage, moderated by former Illinois sports information director Mike Pearson. Former Sports Illustrated writer Lars Anderson, who wrote “The First Star: Red Grange and the Barnstorming Tour That Launched the NFL,” in 2009, was the first to speak and talked about how the man nicknamed the Galloping Ghost transcended sports in the 1920s because ‘What they were seeing from Grange was unlike anything else.”

Chris Willis, the head of research for NFL Films and author of the new book, “Red Grange: The Life and Legacy of the NFL’s First Superstar,” said some people claimed Grange saved the NFL.

“He was the first superstar athlete who joined the NFL. His legacy was almost a blueprint of what the modern player does today. He left school early, signed with an agent, got a huge contract, got endorsements, appeared in Hollywood movies, and won NFL championships. He has a huge legacy.”

Day Two of the Sapora Symposium — named for Dr. Allen Sapora, a pioneer in recreation education and research at Illinois — was termed a “Career Diversity and Global Readiness Summit, and speakers include former Illini basketball star Deon Thomas, Midwest Living Magazine publisher Melissa Luebbe, and Illinois physics emeritus professor and renowned physics-of-baseball researcher Alan Nathan.

The Sapora Symposium was created and developed by the alumni advisory board of the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism in honor of Dr. Sapora. Dr. Sapora was a cornerstone to the education and careers of many of our alumni. He believed in mentoring younger generations and in providing them with critical connections to professionals in the field.

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.

Tags: Mike Raycraft, Sapora Symposium

Podcast: A Few Minutes With … Nick Burd

Nov. 11, 2019 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Kinesiology and Community Health associate professor Nick Burd speaks with AHS media relations specialist Vince Lara about his research on potatoes as an exercise fuel and that physical activity and nutritional guidelines are inextricably linked.

Listen to the podcast

Transcript

VINCE LARA: This is Vince Lara in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois. Today, I speak with Nick Burd, Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, to talk about his research on nutrition and exercise performance. So, Nick, what inspires your research?

NICK BURD: Yeah, sure. I’d say the inspiration comes from answering a lot of real world questions. A lot of our research is aimed at being translational in nature. Most of our work is done in vivo in humans, which obviously is a good model to be able to have translational messages.

VINCE LARA: Mm-hmm. Now why pick Illinois? I notice you went to Ball State, right? So you were in the general region, but why pick here for where you’re teaching?

NICK BURD: Well, I like corn, I like to see it, I like to eat it. No, but in all seriousness, so a lot of my research is tech specialized infrastructure. In particular, it would take this kind of R1 infrastructure, which we have here at the University of Illinois. So coming to a place that could support my research needs, but also had good colleagues in place to create a synergy with my research. And Illinois sort of checked all those boxes, so it just made a lot of sense to come here. And as you sort of alluded to, I was born in Ohio, so it’s sort of home as well in terms of the Midwest.

VINCE LARA: Got you. Now your recent research on the effectiveness of potatoes as exercise fuel got great media attention, so I’m wondering, what led you to study that?

NICK BURD: Yeah, I mean, a lot of my research, I view my research team, we are truly a team. So any project we develop, I sort of develop it in collaboration with my research team. And what I mean by that, my PhD students normally. So that particular idea was sort of derived in collaboration with one of my formal students, Joe Beals. He happened to be a cyclist. Anecdotally, he used potatoes as a fueling source during exercise. Scientifically, it made a lot of sense to test that as a fueling source. I mean, keep in mind, right, sports marketing is– sports nutrition marketing, in particular, they sort of have tuned us to think that we need these specialized sports gels, which they do work, but they can become expensive.

And just trying to find a strategy that’s not too fancy, simple, accessible, cost effective, sort of underpin that sort of idea, potato just happened to be a nutrient dense carbohydrate food source. Students wanted to do it. Scientifically, it made sense, so we went for it. And then sometimes I always say some of the most, I guess the best way to– some of these weird questions always get the most media attention, and that happened to be one of those, right? I think it’s because everybody could kind of relate to it. There’s a lot of runners out there. It was timed well around the marathon, some of the major marathons. So a lot of the news networks just grabbed it and ran.

VINCE LARA: You talked about in your answer here about cost effective means.

NICK BURD: Sure.

VINCE LARA: And so I’ve noticed some of your research really focuses on that, promoting health through diet and exercise changes in a cost effective way.

NICK BURD: Yeah, I’d say that’s fair. I mean, a lot of our work is focused on whole food-based approaches, right? Again, I think we get tuned that sometimes. Certain strategies have to be specially formulated or highly specialized. But a lot of research is aimed at it doesn’t have to be that fancy. And let’s be honest here, a lot of my work is aimed at protein, dietary protein in particular, trying to optimize that within a diet. In terms of that, protein supplements are huge. And once again, they could become expensive.

And we need to be more focused on food first approaches, is what I say. Supplements are fine, but they should be just that, a supplement. But a lot of times, these are the front line strategy for people. But we need to stay focused on the food first approaches. Exercise is a brilliant tool to utilize to support a healthy lifestyle. I mean, it goes back to the old adage, you are what you eat and how you move, right? And that’s what our research shows. It’s aimed at showing that.

VINCE LARA: I know that you hope to look at aging and chronic disease and how exercise and diet can combat those conditions. Talk a little bit more about that, if you would.

NICK BURD: Yeah, I mean, I’m trained as a muscle physiologist, so a lot of times we’re focused on skeletal muscle health. And we do that for a variety of reasons, not to get too reductionist, but muscle has a lot of pertinent roles in a healthy lifestyle, in particular, huge contributor to basal metabolic rate, which for most of us is the biggest contributor to total daily energy expenditure. So we want to make sure we’re protecting muscle for weight maintenance essentially. And certainly, if you were under a period of energy restriction and lose some weight, you don’t want to lose muscle because that’s going to put you at a greater chance for weight regain.

But for metabolic health as well as for performance, we’re focused on muscle. But our experiments, we study obesity, obviously a prevalent disease, especially in Western society, end stage renal disease, aging. These are all areas of emphasis for us because, once again, these are all situations where muscle health is compromised. So we need strategies to sort of help or improve or augment muscle health so hopefully we can ultimately improve overall health.

VINCE LARA: My thanks to Nick Burd. This has been A Few Minutes With.

Tags: A Few Minutes With, Nick Burd, Podcast

Jeff Woods Named First Mottier Family Professor

Nov. 06, 2019 | Anna Flanagan

The professorship was made possible through an estate gift of Charles and Audrey Phyllis Mottier

*AHS Dean Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell congratulates Dr. Jeff Woods on becoming the first Mottier Family Professor*

Dr. Jeff Woods, internationally renowned scholar in the area of exercise physiology, was named the first Mottier Family Professor of Applied Health Sciences in an investiture ceremony in the Alice Campbell Alumni Center on October 28.

Dr. Woods is a professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, Director of the Center on Health, Aging, and Disability, and Associate Dean for Research in the College of Applied Health Sciences. His research focuses on the effects of exercise on the immune system, the gut microbiome, and aging. He was among the first scholars to demonstrate that regular exercise can have an anti-inflammatory effect on the body and showed that exercise can improve the response to the flu vaccine in adults. He was the first to show that exercise, independent of diet, can affect the gut microbiome.

The author of more than 130 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles, Dr. Woods is a Fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology and the American College of Sports Medicine. He completed his Ph.D. in Exercise Science at the University of South Carolina.

Among the many people he thanked in accepting his professorship were his AHS colleagues, who, he said, “…guide and challenge me and make this an inspiring place to work.”

The professorship was made possible through an estate gift of Charles and Audrey Phyllis Mottier, both of whom graduated from the University of Illinois. She completed her undergraduate degree in Physical Education for Women and had a lifelong interest in links between exercise, movement, and health. Sons Chip and Brad Mottier said they were excited to see their mother’s wish fulfilled.

“She believed participation was the height of enjoyment,” Chip said. Audrey Phyllis and Charles both lived life to the fullest, Brad added, and believed in making each day a little above average.

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Tags: Jeff Woods

AHS celebrates outstanding alumni

Oct. 18, 2019 | Anna Flanagan

AHS Distinguished Alumni Award recipient John Consalvi and Dr. Patricia Barrett Malik, who received the 2019 Harold Scharper Award, shared advice from their academic and professional journies with student leaders during a luncheon on Oct. 18 (Photo by Jerry Thompson)

A bilingual speech-language pathologist who has helped train and place bilingual clinicians throughout the United States and a woman who began her career at Illinois as a graduate student and ended it as the director of the Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services were honored for their achievements during a ceremony on October 18.

In accepting the 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award from the College of Applied Health Sciences, John Consalvi said, “The best thing about receiving an honor like this is feeling that you are part of something special, something greater than yourself. What a tremendous gift.”

John completed his master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology in 1991. He became a bilingual clinician in the Chicago Public Schools system, an enormous system with thousands of students who were native Spanish speakers and only six bilingual speech-language pathologists. He founded Bilingual Therapies Inc. to train bilingual clinicians and place them in schools, growing the company into a nationwide staffing provider in 10 years. He recently launched SPEDXchange, an online resource that facilitates connections among those in the special education community, including special education teachers, speech- language pathologists, occupational therapists, school psychologists, school district administrators, and all staff that serve special education students and their families.

John received the 2018 Louis M. DiCarlo Award for Recent Clinical Achievement from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation. He is a Fellow of the Illinois Speech-Language-Hearing Association, which awarded him Honors of the Association in 2017.

Dr. Patricia Barrett Malik received the 2019 Harold Scharper Award from the Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services. Pat completed a master’s degree (1982) and Ph.D. (1988) in what is now the Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism, focusing on therapeutic recreation. Her graduate assistantship was with DRES, then under the direction of its founder Tim Nugent.

Pat held a tenured position at Illinois State University until 1998, when she resigned to help her husband Ron Malik grow a community rehabilitation business that changed the model for group homes. In 2005, she returned to the University of Illinois as director of the Beckwith residential program within DRES and assumed the leadership of DRES in 2014. Pat oversaw many efforts to advance accessibility and inclusivity at Illinois, including the development of a wireless remote control that makes campus elevators more user-friendly for students with severe physical disabilities and an innovation technology project with the Toyota Foundation that made it to the top 10 international entries.

Among the things she learned at Illinois, she told the audience at the event, was that making mistakes is part of living life. “The greatest mistake one can make in life is to be afraid of making mistakes,” she said.

Tags: alumni, Alumni Awards, Distinguished Alumni, Pat Malik

AHS to launch first-of-its-kind degree

Dec. 12, 2019 | Anna Flanagan

*Wendy Rogers, left, and Nicole Holtzclaw-Stone were on hand Dec. 10 as the Illinois Board of Higher Education approved the new Master of Science in Health Technology program. (Photo provided)*

Following the approval this week of the Illinois Board of Higher Education, AHS will welcome its first cohort of students into the new Master of Science in Health Technology (MS-HT) degree program in the fall of 2020.

The degree, designed to advance applied health technology design and implementation, resulted from an “Investment for Growth” proposal submitted to the campus by AHS and the Grainger College of Engineering. It fills a void in the development of a workforce in the increasingly important areas of health technology and human factors, which addresses such issues as ergonomics, product design, and human-computer interaction.

Dr. Wendy Rogers, Khan Professor of Applied Health Sciences, will serve as director of the Health Technology Education Program. Dr. Nicole Holtzclaw-Stone will serve as Assistant Director.

At the first meeting of the MS-HT advisory board, Dr. Rogers shared findings of comprehensive research conducted by Illinois Business Consulting (IBC) and a survey she and Dr. Holtzclaw-Stone developed to assess the need and interest for such a program.

“Through surveys, focus groups, and cold calls to industry, IBC found that there are no existing master’s programs in health technology, either within the United States or internationally,” Dr. Rogers said. “Moreover, interest in this degree is high at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. In our survey of 65 industry experts in health technology, 92 percent said the degree would be valuable.” That same survey revealed that 65 percent of respondents thought it was likely that their organization would be interested in hiring the program’s graduates. One industry respondent summed it up by saying, “There is a dire need for this unique program in the healthcare industry.”

While housed in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, the MS-HT is a collaborative effort with the Grainger College of Engineering, primarily the Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering. Other collaborating departments in engineering include Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Bioengineering, and Computer Science, as well as the Departments of Speech and Hearing Science and Recreation, Sport and Tourism in AHS.

Tags: MSHT, Wendy Rogers

Can exercise help cancer survivors overcome negative effects of treatment?

Aug. 15, 2019 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Cancer-related cognitive impairment, in memory and focus, is an understudied phenomenon

Cancer survivors have many obstacles to overcome to achieve a sense of normalcy. A University of Illinois researcher believes she can help combat some of these problems with a cost-effective tool of exercise.

Kinesiology and Community Health assistant professor Neha Gothe has initiated the STAY Fit study, which stands for Strength Training, Aerobic walking and Yoga for cancer survivors.

Gothe is enrolling cancer survivors ages 30-70 to take part in a 12-week fitness program aimed at reducing some of the negative effects of cancer treatments such as functional fitness, fatigue, lack of sleep and brain fog.

The study’s aims are to measure how participants’ fitness and quality of life have improved over the study span, but primarily, Gothe said she’s focused on cognitive function.

“We are looking at cancer-related cognitive impairment. It’s a very understudied phenomenon,” she said. “Up to 70 percent, and some studies show that more than that percentage of cancer survivors, regardless of cancer type, report these subjective complaints, that they feel like they are not functioning optimally when it comes to their memory or they can’t stay as focused as they used to. It is particularly common during and after treatments, especially chemo and radiation, but has also been documented before patients begin treatment. Only in the late ‘90s CRCI was formally recognized as a quality of life matter that deserved higher priority in clinical research.”

Gothe said the National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health have since encouraged researchers to design and conduct interventions to understand what’s causing CRCI and how to prevent and treat it.

“People are looking for solutions outside more medications,” Gothe said, which is a driving factor for STAY Fit study’s yoga-based holistic approach.

The study participants are randomly placed into one of three groups, either the strength group, aerobic walking or yoga, with two trainers assigned to each group of 10-15 people. The groups are kept purposely small to ensure participants get equitable treatment and to ensure healthy group dynamics.

All participants wear a heart monitor during the sessions, which run 60-90 minutes, and they’ll exercise 2-3 times a week for a total of 150 minutes as prescribed by the Center for Disease Control and American Cancer Society.

The STAY Fit exercise sessions begin Aug. 26 and runs through Nov. 15. Given the community engagement and interest in the study, Gothe and her research team will run another 12-week program in the new year starting Jan. 27, 2020.

Editor’s note:

This study is now complete. Neha Gothe joined the faculty of Northeastern University in 2023.

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Tags: Cancer, Cognitive function, Neha Gothe

A Few Minutes With … Carmen Rossi

Feb. 07, 2022 | Vince Lara-Cinisomo

Lawyer, entrepreneur and University of Illinois graduate Carmen Rossi speaks with Vince Lara in the College of Applied Health Sciences about his gift to Recreation, Sport and Tourism.

Transcript

VINCE LARA: Hi, and welcome to another edition of A Few Minutes With, the podcast that showcases Illinois College of Applied Health Sciences. I’m Vince Lara and today, I’m speaking with Carmen Rossi, who is an RST alum, who’s an entrepreneur, real estate developer, and owner of the legendary KAM’s, about his academic career, his entrepreneurial spirit, and his contributions to RST. So Mr. Rossi, I really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day to talk to me this morning. How are you, sir?

CARMEN ROSSI: Good morning. Good morning. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. Hello, and not only to you, Vince. And I think we’re going to have an enjoyable time speaking together. But certainly, the greater U of I community in the AHS alumni, faculty, staff, and students. This is really cool. So ready to kick it off.

VINCE LARA: Excellent. well, Carmen, I should tell our audience that you’re from Frankfort, Illinois. So as someone who grew up in the state, did you always plan to go to the University of Illinois?

CARMEN ROSSI: Well, not to give the Tom Cruise Risky Business reference a regard. But for me, personally, the University of Illinois is a highly competitive process and application and applicant pool. I’ve always had a steadfast desire to attend the community. And I think I honestly say that genuinely because I think I can very much recall the moment when I learned that I had been accepted. And I think it was with that sort of excitement was a channel for me to want to maximize my time. And that not only was during the time that I spent on campus, but that same scene reverberates today. I look at this as an opportunity to remain engaged on, as you will soon learn, very committed to the greater use of the University of Illinois community. And sort of look at it, the journey is not limited to just the years spent on campus, but my commitment beyond, which is as an alumni and as a active cheerleader to the community at large.

VINCE LARA: Now you are an English and political science major as an undergrad. Then you got your master’s degree in RST, Recreation, Sport, and Tourism. And then you got a law degree. And I’m wondering what spurred you to pursue such diverse academic avenues? Was it something that your parents encouraged or was something within you?

CARMEN ROSSI: Well, I think the greatest contributor to the idea of continued education, which given the diversity of my business ventures, contribute as a nod to the experience in college. But my pursuit of higher education and continued education was. The driving force was the U of I experience, most definitely. I had such a positive experience as an undergraduate, whether it was intimate class sizes and the opportunity to engage with professors before and after class.

Certainly, my classmates, with, as you’ve mentioned, those concentrations of studies are diverse, which puts you with a very different set of students and topics and themes. And so it was easy for me to remain committed and committed to the going pursuit of education, so long as it was at the University of Illinois.

And really, I was, also. I mean, those are– not to try to be a romantic here. But those are important development years. I can’t say that my goal, at all, as an 18-year-old or as an undergraduate was to pursue the many ventures that I’m in now. I had to develop individually, but also academically, and then professionally. And it was my exposure to those varied disciplines and paths that I think most contributed to my confidence, right?

So being an entrepreneur requires a element of patience and risk. And I think the academic journey itself, which is to say, deadlines and grades papers and a balanced curriculum. I think those were all little mini tests and mini milestones, which ultimately contributed to my abilities in venturing out into the professional world.

VINCE LARA: Now you passed the BAR in 2012. And you worked at a law firm in 2013. And then you opened a hospitality company. So I’m wondering, did that indicate that a pivot from the law? Or did you always envision pursuing an entrepreneurial career, even after getting your law degree?

CARMEN ROSSI: So the experience was such that I had, as an undergrad, started a couple of small businesses. And it really is a testament to the caliber of students that were my peers because going into Champaign as a freshman, I didn’t really know many people coming from a smaller town, like Frankfurt. And in class, made new friends. And we came up with a couple of companies. And I’m only smiling because I want to use the word, that corporate word, gingerly. But we started a painting company, for example. We started, with a classmate that I met in a Greek organization, with another classmate I met in political science. I started a furniture and loft building company. And again, I had not known these folks before school. And throughout the years, I would start little companies, maybe employee sizes. Maybe it was just two or three of us, the biggest probably being 20. And my undergraduate, with dual disciplines, was five years. My graduate was two. And my law was three. So I did more time than Van Wilder.

There’s the pop culture reference. But yeah, during those 10 years, I probably had eight or nine small businesses that really were just trial and error. I mean, if I were to reference, previously, the painting company or the furniture and loft building company, I don’t mean to indict the great work we did. But I had never painted or used a hammer in my life. So literally, it was those are true learning experiences, through trial and error and probably testaments to our commitment to one another, but our commitment to the customers, if nothing else.

But when I graduated to get back to your original question. When I graduated, I did work for a civil litigation firm out of Joliet, Illinois. I had clerked for the state’s attorney’s office and was actually assigned to one of the most high profile criminal murder cases, as just a clerk. But it was really exciting and cool at the time. And I had such an appreciation for the law. When you go into advanced academics, which I would describe as law, medicine, accounting, engineering– you’re really, to me, the elements and knowledge, specifically, is secondary to the discipline, which is the way of thinking and process of how you approach situations and that repetitive training.

And so I was very excited eager determined to have a career in law that would champion advocacy. So the idea of a hospitality company really didn’t show itself until the nature of my work allowed me the freedom to explore. So imagine I am actually assigned to drafting appellate court briefs for a firm, which is might sound fancy. But it’s incredibly monotonous and boring exercise of writing.

But you have to respond within some statutory time, 28 to 35 days later. And all you need is the internet because you’re just writing. So going the other way of seeing that is I was not confined to a courtroom or an office. I was merely required to have an internet and abide by deadlines. So I started spending time in Chicago. Being from a small town, how incredibly powerful and impactful the city serves those tall buildings, those busy streets. And I very quickly fell in love with the landscape and the potential, the capacity.

So I had money, some money saved up. You can only spend so much on ramen and cheap beer in college, as an undergrad. So whatever dollars I saved from those small ventures, I decided to open up a restaurant, pour all my money in. And not to take away from the the capacity and size of starting a new company. But I was at least aware of the reality of failed business and the reality of my lack of experience and the reality of my youth.

But I knew that I had a good degree. And I knew that I had a network of friends. And I knew that I was still young and that failure is sometimes a very necessary part of life’s lessons and journey. And for any students out there who are frustrated with themselves and any parents who are equally frustrated or kicking themselves in the butt, I am one of those who lived with my parents until I was 27 years old, God bless them. And I am super grateful that they allowed me that roof because it took off so many of the pressures and allowed me the time to develop.

So yeah, I wish I had a more explosive answer. But that’s the truth. That’s how I got there. And I describe as very– I describe academically and very seriously, the elements of success in preparation and research and due diligence.

But almost as importantly, timing and luck. That can be a very not necessarily chilling or humbling, but it can be a very necessary component to any venture or life decision. It needs to be made at the right time. And to get over that hump, you just got to catch a little bit of luck. And so in my opinion. And so I was at the right time for city politics, for city, for where we were in the economy. And I could have easily gone the other way because I was way in over my head. But that was where luck, then, played its part. And yeah, I just kept going.

VINCE LARA: Working in hospitality and opening an industry opening a business in hospitality, it really takes a specific mindset. You have to be patient. Something you referenced earlier, humble. And you have to have a willingness to serve. And so is that what drew you to hospitality?

CARMEN ROSSI: Well, right. That’s a great point. And again, highlights my lack of experience. So right, I had no professional background in hospitality, cooking. I’ve certainly never worked in a kitchen or cooked. But also, wasn’t a mixologist. I was never a server in the steps of service and the art of setting the plate or managing the customer. But I did have a–I have always had a fundamental understanding of making someone feel good and understanding that they are here to have an experience.

And I don’t limit that simply to hospitality. It can be in development, construction, it can be in client engagement, a first client interview, whether a lawyer or a doctor or a pre-call interview, as a journalist. You are tapping into the emotions and expectations of the person on the other line.

And with hospitality, maybe it’s a first date, a birthday, a corporate meeting. And understanding what that person’s expectations are, what they’re looking for from the experience, whether it is sustenance, whether I’m here just to have a bite or a drink and move on or creating a memory, like a wedding, engagement party, or otherwise.

So I knew that if I could surround myself with the skills and people who had the expertise, that’s probably my job today. I wish it was. I wish I was more developed on the intricacies of the many steps. But I put together teams. My ability to participate in so many varied industries. And most recently, if this interview is ever time stamped, in 2021, 2022, in the state of Illinois, you’ve had two massive industries emerge that had never previously existed or existed, legally, I should say. And that is cannabis and gaming.

And those are two industries that I am very deeply involved. But that comes with new regulation. That comes with your– it’s not simply the process of the operation, but rather education, dialogue with elected officials. And it is recruitment, as far as for me, London, of skilled, people who have worked in the industries and have that bandwidth.

So my job is similar to that of a general manager of a sports team. I have to field a team that can perform, but at so many different positions, in so many different skill sets. And the success of our team are, our goal of making the playoffs and playing in the championship, is through the journey of everyone having to perform at the highest degree, but not always at the same task.

So yeah, and boiling back down, I think you’ll be able to see now, as we’ve explored together throughout our talk this morning. I think you see how that’s sort of roadmap has been established. It was at Champaign. It was with very diverse students and curriculum and just learning throughout the process, not knowing where I was going.

I mean, isn’t that a reflection of the American curriculum, as it relates to college. Not everyone knows exactly where they’re going to land in the next four years or what they’re interested in. I mean, I have a law firm today. And our concentration is mostly regulatory, government lobbying. But that was not at all what I had ever envisioned, even while I was in law school. And I think it is a contributor to a larger footprint, a larger vision.

And if you were to say, well, what is the proverbial, where do you see yourself in five years? Well, I hope my head is still above water. I couldn’t necessarily or absolutely describe what the next five years look like or that I wouldn’t get involved in other industries that today I have no idea about.

But the confidence in that patience that you referenced is really just borne from the fact that we’ve been here before, even from the very first day, we stepped on campus, we didn’t know where we were going. But we knew that this is a good community. We’re going to do good work. We’re going to listen. We’re going to network. So long as we make great relationships and friendships.

And so long as people pick up the phone when you call because you’re a valued asset to their Rolodex. Then we’ll be OK. And not to say that there isn’t chaos and problems. But if you boil it down to those very, very simple life lessons and sort of, I wish there was a more algorithmic formula that I could share with everyone, so to say, that I could say, here’s the secret. Don’t tell anyone.

But it’s not. I love keeping it simple. James Carville maybe, KISS, Keep it Simple, Stupid. During Bill Clinton’s campaign. Yeah, I love that. It allows you to breathe a little easier when the pressure is mounting or when you feel like you’re behind, if you just remind yourself of all the little things that you’ve done, all the great relationships that you’ve managed to bring in and cultivate them. It’ll be OK. You just got to weather the storm.

So yeah, that is definitely patience. And it is patience and understanding of that, ultimately, leads to vision. But those are the nation elements.

VINCE LARA: One of the many impressive things I found out about you in doing my research is that there is always a charitable side to your endeavors. And I’m wondering what inspired that in you.

CARMEN ROSSI: Well, that is fundamental. Probably central theme, if we had to create a bubble chart with singular themed words of this conversation, one of the words might be, community. And as I referenced, the network and the friends and the family and the new relationships and ventures, really, those are all fall into community and if you and if you believe that, and you make that a central tenet of your mission statement, then giving back is not, probably, a preferred way of framing. I don’t think– that might come off as obligatory.

I live in the community. And the community has been amazing. I’m so absolutely fortunate for being able to have experienced the degree of success as a product of the community. And the community is representative of so many different cogs in so many different organizations. Therefore, charity is a daily commitment. I can make this point, anecdotally. I had five or six restaurants within let’s say, two to three years of starting this company, which means I’m two to three years into learning about hospitality.

But I had quickly opened up. It was six. But let’s, as many as I have fingers on one hand, we had 150 employees, 200 employees. And I said, I am learning so much about Chicago because I’m not from there. And I’m meeting people who are coming into the restaurants as customers, who work in the neighborhood, that work for such a variety of businesses and organizations. And a lot of nonprofits, especially in Chicago. There’s so many awesome organizations that directly serve the community, but from such a– whether it’s children services, whether it’s educational, whether it’s support, human support. And I have an addictive personality. And I’m a people pleaser and quite frankly, a lover. The idea of hearing more about their organization was a internal trigger to just want to get involved. But I would share it. I would share. I’m in my 20s. And so many of my employees are like me, in their 20s. And I would, these are friends. And I would say, hey, let’s– I just met this person. And they have this organization. And I’m volunteering to serve food. We’re going to make the food. We’re going to go over there. We’re going to serve the food.

And then there was a support system, another organization that was for abused women. And we were there Just to sit and talk, to serve coffee and pastries, and just to hang out. And people in the service industry in their 20s are energetic. We’re jovial. If you have a desire to work in hospitality, you probably have a personality that is pretty electric. And you likely enjoy human conversation because that’s so much a part of the job.

So we just all started signing up. I would just put up sign up sheets throughout the business and our businesses and just say, hey, I’m going to show up here at this time. And if you want to, as well, great. If not, sounds good. And those sign up sheets were never empty. I mean, every single day. And sometimes, they were too full, which is to say we had more help than we needed. And it sort of got out that we were an organization that sort of really enjoyed getting involved. And it just grew from there. So I decided to formalize it and really, it was twofold to formalize it as an opportunity and channel for employees, but also as an opportunity and channel for organizations to hear about us and reach out to us and know that we would, whatever the task, if we’re capable, we’re in. And that was in 2014, 2015. And we’re still engaged 365 now.

VINCE LARA: Speaking of charitable works, part of the reason that we’re chatting today, a small part of it anyway, is that you are giving a gift to RST to support RST 180, which is Mike Raycraft’s Hall of Fame tour, a wonderful program that takes two dozen students around to see various landmarks across the country. So I’m wondering, why did you want to be involved with RST? And specifically, why RST 180?

CARMEN ROSSI: So the curriculum for RST is a lot of what I’ve talked about today. You’re working intimately with people with communities, municipalities, governments, charities, organizations related to kids, students, and development of new organizations. RST, it’s got a very vast base and that touches on a lot of foundations, whether it is organizations of recreation or tourism. Those are massive industries.

So, of course, you’re talking about marketing advertising. You’re talking about operational logistics. You’re talking– I loved it. I had such a– and when you talk about political science in English, and then you go, RST has disciplines that are much– they’re hands on, boots on the ground. And the best way to learn is to engage. Not to take away from the academic curriculum, specifically. But there is a practical application that will best serve you for success. And that practical application is showing up, is getting involved, is trying it out. Not only as the service intends, but as a service to yourself. I enjoy this, OK. There’s only so much a textbook or course tech can teach and educate.

So it requires the students to sort of get out into the community and work, whether it’s an event, whether it’s behind the scenes, organizationally. So I see in these students, probably, a role that I can play is certainly one of opportunity for internships, certainly one of opportunity in education, whether it’s education of philosophy and sort of the steps of service or participate in the practical application through anecdotes, stories, life lessons.

And then there’s the opportunity of establishing scholarships, establishing financial commitments that can lead to students being allowed to participate. Or I think there’s a–I think there’s a designation of funds that’s going toward I would describe as an extended road trip. But a field trip of getting exactly into what we’re talking about, getting into the thick of things, and going and learning and experiencing what you might have discussed, ad nauseum, in the classroom. But now you get to see it in action for events. So yeah, I’m excited to see where this goes. And I’m not hardly done. And the community, again, from Champaign to Chicago, has been an absolute blessing. And I think about that every day. And that I convert that into a commitment of staying involved. And as long as you’ll have me, as long as the AHS family and community will have me, I’m committed to staying involved and excited to see where our journey together will go next.

Again, this was an idea. Shout out to Mike Raycraft I hope there are smiling faces. There has to be many when I say that name because he’s had a significant impact on my experience at the University of Illinois and certainly, in the vast community. So he came up with this idea of getting involved in creating a program that would afford students to participate with financial resources that I could extend in a program that came out of nowhere. And so I’m excited to find out. I’m excited to participate in our next idea together.

VINCE LARA: Yeah, and that’s a fantastic way to end. I appreciate your time, Mr. Rossi. And thank you for all you do for AHS. And I appreciate the time you spent with us today.

CARMEN ROSSI: I thank you, really. This was a cool opportunity. And I again, thank you very, very much.

VINCE LARA: My thanks to Carmen Rossi. For more podcasts on Illinois’ College of Applied Health Sciences, search A Few Minutes With on iTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Radio.com, and other places you get your podcasts fix. Thanks for listening, and see you next time.

Editor’s note:

To reach Vince Lara-Cinisomo, email vinlara@illinois.edu.

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Tags: A Few Minutes With, Carmen Rossi, Podcast

Renovating for the Future

May 06, 2019 | Anna Flanagan

Projects in Freer Hall and the Speech and Hearing Science Building will create new classroom, research and administrative space.

Conducting 21^st century research and instruction in 20^th century space can be challenging. Architects designing buildings 40 to 100 years ago could never have imagined the scope of the investigations in which faculty would be engaged, from the macro to the molecular level. Nor could they have predicted with any accuracy how departments would grow and change over the years.

Take the Women’s Gymnasium, for example.

An ambitious plan

Built in the early 1930s, what is now known as Freer Hall provided expanded facilities for the women’s physical education department, which had outgrown its space in the Woman’s Building (now the English Building). The last of 11 Georgian-style buildings on the Urbana-Champaign campus designed by renowned architect Charles Platt, the Women’s Gymnasium housed administrative offices, classrooms, and gymnasium spaces that were used for recreation, intramural sport competitions, and physical education research. Louise Freer, the women’s physical education director for whom the building was later renamed, added a lounge area in 1932 to provide a social space in the building.

The original design called for wings on both ends of the building, with the north wing housing a swimming pool. Funding was exhausted before the wings could be constructed, but the original vision was partially fulfilled in 1968 when a pool wing was added on the north end of the building. Administered by Campus Recreation, the pool served as the home venue for the Illinois Fighting Illini women’s swimming and diving team during renovations to the Intramural Physical Education Building, now known as the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC).

Four years after the pool wing was added, the Department of Physical Education for Women merged with the Department of Physical Education for Men and Freer Hall became home to the School of Physical Education. Renamed the Department of Kinesiology in 1987, the rapidly growing discipline began to strain against the limitations imposed by the nearly 60-year-old building. It wasn’t until the mid-2000s, however, that the College of Applied Health Sciences was able to undertake its first efforts to address some of the department’s pressing needs.

Between 2005 and 2011, two renovation projects converted the north and south gyms on the third floor into office and research space. Ten offices and an exercise science laboratory were carved out of the north gym space, while the south gym became facilities for research on neurocognitive kinesiology and the neuroscience of dance in health and disability. By this time, the women’s swimming and diving team had returned to the ARC, and with outstanding pool facilities existing in both that building and the Campus Recreation Center East, the College lobbied successfully to take ownership of the Freer Hall pool.

The vision for the north wing renovation was ambitious: to convert nearly 48,000 square feet gained by filling in the pool and removing lockers and showers into modern, collaborative research and teaching space. In January 2015, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees approved campus funding for the College’s plan to renovate the north wing “to develop needed spaces that directly support the long-range vision for the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health and the College of Applied Health Sciences at Urbana-Champaign.”

The pool infill renovation is the most comprehensive building project undertaken by the College to date. It includes modifications that will bring the building into compliance with the American with Disabilities Act, including the addition of an elevator that will give access to the fourth floor, previously unreachable by individuals with disabilities. (A new ADA-compliant entrance on the south side of Freer Hall was completed in 2018.) Half of the fourth floor will house new mechanical systems, including central air conditioning, while the other half will contain office space for visiting faculty and postdoctoral scholars.

The highlight of the renovation is the multipurpose testing and research facility that will occupy the first floor of the former pool wing. Described as an “historic renovation” by Dr. Amy Woods, head of the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, the project will significantly enhance the department’s teaching, research, and outreach missions.

“This new space will include office and conference rooms, a large lifestyle intervention center including areas for blood collection and nutrition studies, a laboratory for motion capture, an exercise physiology wet lab, and other labs for kinesiology research,” she said. “The laboratories in this new space will be shared resources that facilitate multiple research studies as well as faculty and student interactions.” The space also will house a state-of-the-art video production facility for online classes. The comprehensive $20 million project has not been without its challenges, but is expected to be completed during the Fall 2019 semester.

A more welcoming environment

architectural rendering of lobby elevator area in Speech and Hearing Science Building

Also slated for completion this year is a $2.4 million renovation of the Speech and Hearing Science Building, built in the mid-1970s.

Originally conceived as a half-million dollar project to increase research space on the second floor, the College was able to expand the scope of the renovation through a campus initiative to repurpose underused facilities. Bill Goodman, former associate dean in AHS who is now a special assistant to Dean Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell, said the initial plan was to convert small rooms that had served as assessment rooms for the Speech-Language Pathology Clinic into usable space.

“The assessment rooms were rendered obsolete when the clinic moved to the Research Park area south of campus,” he said. “Our plan was to combine several of these smaller rooms into space that would be suitable for faculty research.”

The larger project will renovate more than 5,000 square feet on the second and first floors of the building, not only to provide for better research and teaching facilities but also to create a friendlier, more welcoming image for the Department of Speech and Hearing Science.

“You really had to hunt for the department’s administrative offices,” Mr. Goodman said. “The building didn’t have a very friendly or welcoming environment.”

The renovation project necessitated the disbursement of speech and hearing science faculty to alternative office space around campus. That’s been inconvenient, said SHS department head Karen Kirk, but the new facilities will make the temporary displacement worthwhile.

“The renovations will provide much-needed additional laboratory and student work space,” she said. “It also will give us enhanced meeting spaces of varying sizes that can be used for student seminars, research presentations, and large faculty meetings.”

Dr. Kirk also is excited about the relocation of administrative offices to the first floor, which will increase both the perceived and actual accessibility of SHS, and about the increased functionality and attractiveness of lobby areas on the first and second floors, which are used for student orientations, prospective student visits, and graduation receptions.

Also moved from the Speech and Hearing Science Building to allow for renovations was the University of Illinois Audiology Clinic, which now shares space with the Speech-Language Pathology Clinic in Research Park. That move is a permanent one, Dr. Kirk said, and will allow the department to provide integrated services to clients across the lifespan. And, she added, “Our clients are pleased with the free parking on site.”

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Tags: Freer Hall, Speech and Hearing Science Building

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