The UCA Jewel Moore Nature Reserve (JMNR) and Campus Outdoor Pursuits & Activities (COPA) hosted a Leave-no-trace session at the nature reserve on October 12, 2015 from 2:00 p.m. from 4:00 p.m. Students learned about enjoying nature without damaging it and about all the great resources on campus to help everyone enjoy getting outside.
Students
UCA OT Student Is Helping A Hero Heal In Germany
UCA Occupational Therapy Level II Fieldwork student, Kirby Kirkland, is part of the team who has been helping a hero.
Being placed at Ladstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany was a dream that came true. While she might argue that she is helping heroes daily, she recently worked with a hero with international acclaim, Airman 1st Class Spencer Stone.
On the left, Captain Ashley Welsh assists Stone with his occupational therapy during an August 31, 2015 appointment at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany. Also assisting are OT Assistant Sgt. Aaron Keller (top) and OT Intern Kirby Kirkland (right). Stone is receiving care for injuries sustained while helping prevent an attack by an armed gunman on board a train in France. (U.S. Army Photo/Chuck Roberts)
Airman 1st Class Spencer Stone didn’t think twice before he and his friends stepped in to thwart a terrorist attack on a Paris train, and his selflessness resulted in a potentially disabling cut to his hand.
However, thanks to the skillful work of surgeons in Paris and the expert therapy he’s receiving from Army medical professionals at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, he is expected to regain full use of his hand.
Stone received a deep laceration at the base of his thumb that severed the tendon and nerves that run along the inside of the thumb, according to Lt. Col. Arthur Yeager, LRMC’s Chief of Occupational Therapy.
According to Yeager, the cut appears to be a defensive wound from when the would-be attacker sliced at him with a knife, while Stone and the other heroes on the train attempted to subdue him.
“Stone said everything happened so quickly he doesn’t recall exactly how he was cut,” Yeager said. “The tendon that was severed allows you to flex the thumb and use it to grasp things, and without it, you can’t really use your thumb.”
Yeager says the excellent care Stone received at a French hospital has set him on a path to a complete recovery.
“Thanks to our counterparts in France, he underwent surgery that same day, which is critical,” Yeager said. “What tends to happen is that the longer you wait to repair the cut, the harder it is to get more range of motion and the harder the rehab will be.”
UCA Leadership Students And Faculty Presented At International Conference
Students and faculty of the Interdisciplinary PhD in Leadership Studies program (LEAD) at the University of Central Arkansas have recently traveled to Georgetown University in Washington, DC, to present research at this year’s annual conference of the Human Development & Capability Association (HDCA).
HDCA is a global community of academics and practitioners that seeks to build an intellectual community around the ideas of human development. HDCA’s conference theme this year was Capabilities on the Move: Mobility and Aspirations.
The LEAD director, Rhonda McClellan, is pleased that six students, an affiliated faculty member and she presented original research at this year’s conference. Several students and Dr. McClellan presented their field-based research project on health and well-being in the Arkansas Delta. One student presented her dissertation work on girls’ education in Niger. Another student, along with Dr. Jayme Stone, presented a pilot study for the student’s dissertation work that focuses on environmental leadership in Rwanda.
LEAD students and faculty had the opportunity to see some of their academic/research idols present new ideas as well as debate current theory. They particularly enjoyed plenary sessions with Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, founders of the Capability Approach, and James Heckman and Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureates in Economics. They also had the opportunity to attend a multitude of paper sessions from international researchers who look to improve well-being and human agency around the world.
Emily Lane, a LEAD student working on research in the Arkansas Delta, was excited to present at the conference and proud to represent UCA and LEAD. “The work we do in this program is indispensable, and we are always happy to share it with others. The HDCA conference was a great place to discuss our research, to network with like-minded scholars, and to continue our work of enhancing human and community capabilities.”
The LEAD program is now accepting applications for its incoming 2016 cohort. For more information on the program, visit https://uca.edu/phdleadership/.
For more information on the conference and the presentations by LEAD students and faculty, visit http://hd-ca.org/conference.
OT Students Organize Local Chapter of “Best Buddies” Program
UCA Department of Occupational Therapy students Aly Hill and Markii Landry recently organized a local chapter of “Best Buddies” as part of their leadership requirements as LEND trainees.
Best Buddies® is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).
Hill has been instrumental in bringing the organization to UCA and the organization just received RSO approval last month.
Hill traveled to the Best Buddies national conference this summer and the director was very impressed. “Aly has been so wonderful and I’m ridiculously impressed with the UCA OT Department.”
Leadership Studies Students Attended HDC Conference
Six students from the Leadership Studies program attended the Human Development and Capabilities Association conference, which was held at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. from September 10 through September 13, 2015.
The conference theme this year was “Capabilities On The Move: Mobility and Aspirations.”
Five of the students presented their current field-based research projects on health and well-being in the Arkansas Delta. Each student presented an individual paper within the study’s context that focused on health disparities, generational poverty, food security, functional literacy and youth development.
Two students presented their respective dissertation work on girls’ education in Niger and environmental leadership in Rwanda.
All of the students and attending faculty were able to see some of their academic and research idols present new ideas as well as debate current theory, as well as attend a multitude of paper sessions from international researchers who look to improve well-being and human agency around the world. They particularly enjoyed plenary sessions with Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, founders of the Capability Approach, and James Heckman and Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureates in Economics.
When students and faculty have opportunities to attend conferences, such as HDCA, they acquire a deeper appreciation for their classroom knowledge and field-based research. They begin to realize that becoming a scholar and leading through research and service can be life-fulfilling.