CAHS 2015 State of the College Address

At the 2015 College of Allied Health Sciences (CAHS) State of the College address, Interim Dean Tina Whalen, EdD, applauded faculty, staff and students for the college’s recent successes and upward trajectory. 

"I’m really proud of this college and feel very, very strongly that we have a bright future,” remarked Whalen, who pointed to successes such as the phenomenal growth in enrollment the college has experienced in the last five years:  from 1,995 undergraduate students to 2,885 and nearly double the amount of graduate students, from 422 to 755.

Also of note, Whalen said, is that the Spring 2015 first-year undergraduate retention rate has reached 95.9 percent. 

An additionally impressive point of pride, she said, is that the total amount of new research awards for the first half of the 2014-15 academic year ($1,568,567) has already surpassed totals from the two prior academic years.

"We’re doing the best we  can to get everyone the resources they need to do the work,” Whalen said, referring to the increase in grants and contracts and careful balancing of the college’s budget since she became interim dean in July 2014.

Additional points of interest in the address:

• 18.8 percent of students enrolled in the 2014 Fall Semester self‐identified as a minority ethnicity and/or race.

• Sixty-six students received $123,330 in scholarships from 13 established CAHS scholarship funds.

• Rehabilitation Sciences received a $200,000 endowed scholarship from an anonymous donor.

• New hires and appointments of 20 faculty and staff, including adjuncts. 

• A large number of local, regional and national awards bestowed on CAHS students and faculty.

"We have lots of wonderful things that have happened this year,” Whalen said of the recap, which covered the first half of the 2014-15 academic year.