The Bear Ledger

Dr. Letha J. Mosley, assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy, was recently named chair of the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education. The council is the governing body for accreditation of occupational therapy and occupational therapy educational programs in the United States. It develops and revises the Standards for Educational Programs, and oversees the accreditation review processes. Mosley’s term runs through August 2012. She previously served on the council from 1997 to 2003. She came to UCA in August of 2005.

Dr. David Taylor, assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, along with former research assistant and 2009 graduate, Kesa Tiarks, published an article in September in Physical Therapy, the Journal of the American Physical Therapy Association. The article, which focused on their work regarding exercise and patients with type 2 diabetes, is titled “Impact of physical therapist-directed exercise counseling combined with fitness center-based exercise training on muscular strength and exercise capacity in people with type 2 diabetes: a randomized clinical trial”. (Physical Therapy. 2009; 89:884-892).

Dr. Hao Liu, associate professor, recently left UCA to begin teaching at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. UNTHSC is currently developing a new Doctor of Physical Therapy program at their Fort Worth campus and is chaired by Dr. Clayton Holmes, a former UCA Physical Therapy faculty member. Dr. Liu taught Gross Anatomy and Neuroscience in the Department of Physical Therapy since 2003. He came to UCA from the University of Mississippi Medical Center where he completed his doctoral work. Dr. Liu will continue to teach Gross Anatomy and neuroscience in his new position in Texas.

Dr. Chad Lairamore joined the Department of Physical Therapy in January as a visiting instructor and will teach in the area of neuromuscular physical therapy. Dr. Lairamore received his degree from UCA in 2000 and recently completed the PhD in physical therapy degree from UCA in 2009. He comes to UCA from Baptist Health Rehabilitation Hospital in Little Rock where he worked with patients with stroke and brain injury. His research interest is in the area of restoration of mobility in individuals post neurological injury. He completed his dissertation entitled “Comparison of tibialis anterior muscle electromyography, ankle kinetics, and velocity during gait for subjects post cerebral vascular accident with and without orthotics.” Dr. Lairamore will be presenting his findings in June at the 2010 Annual Conference of the American Physical Therapy Association in Boston.

Dr. Charlotte Yates, assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy, presented a talk at the Southeast IDeA Regional meeting held in Charleston, South Carolina in November 2009. The talk was entitled, “Elimination of hyperflexia in Spinal Cord Injury with Modafinil.” The meeting was hosted by the South Carolina IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence. Research for the talk was completed at the Center for Translational Neuroscience at UAMS.

Dr. Charlotte Yates, assistant professor, and Dr. Nancy Reese, professor and chairperson of the Department of Physical Therapy, recently had an article published in Spinal Cord (2009;47,481-485) entitled “Modafinil normalizes hyperreflexia after spinal transaction in adult rats.” Co-authors included Charlesworth, A., Skinner, RD., and Garcia-Rill, E.

Dr. Mary Jo Cooley-Hidecker, assistant professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology, has recently published three articles. They are: “Building the evidence for communication interventions: Commentary on ‘Increasing the speech intelligibility of older children with dysarthria and cerebral palsy,” Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.2009.03389.x. (September 2009 early online preview); “Cerebral palsy and aging,” Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 51(Suppl.4), 16-23, doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.2009.03428.x. Co-authors included Haak, P., Lenski, M., Li, M., & Paneth, N.; and “Using family paradigms to improve evidence-based practice,” American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 18(3), 212-221. Co-authors included Jones, R.S., Imig, D.R., & Villarruel, F.A.

Dr. Dee Lance’s, associate professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology, article “Treating Reading Comprehension Deficits in Children with Language Impairment,” was recently published in SpeechPathology.com. Co-author was Barton, A.

Dr. Gary McCullough, associate professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology, has three articles that have been accepted and will be published soon. They are: “Initiation and duration of laryngeal closure during the pharyngeal swallow in post-stroke patients,” Dysphagia. Co-author Kim,Y.; “Maximum hyoid excursion in post-stroke patients,” Dysphagia, Co-author Kim, Y.; and “The precarious private life of professor father fiction chef and other possible poignancies,” an essay in Papa, Ph.D.

Shawn Charlton, assistant professor of psychology, and co-authors Charlton, V. A., Gossett, B., & Hawkins, J. published their article “Slippery when whet: What facilitated communication teaches about the importance of data-based decision-making,” in The British Journal of Developmental Disabilities, 56(1), 67 – 71.

Paul Nail, assistant professor of psychology, has been named a lifetime member of the Southwestern Psychological Association for his 31 years of service to the organization, including serving as president in 2005-06. Nail was also elevated to the status of Fellow in the Society of Experimental Social Psychology in October.