Dr. Nancy Reese
The University of Central Arkansas is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Nancy Reese as chair of UCA’s Strategic Planning and Resource Council (SPARC). She will replace Dr. Mike Schaefer as his two-year term concludes. SPARC is charged with the continued examination of our mission, vision, and core values. SPARC’s membership includes representatives from all areas of campus.
“I would like to thank Dr. Reese for taking on such an important leadership role for this university,” said UCA President Tom Courtway. “As SPARC chair, Dr. Reese will also serve as chair of UCA’s Strategic Budget Advisory Committee (SBAC). This dual leadership role was established to recognize the importance of budgetary considerations as part of overall planning. This structure was presented in our monitoring report accepted by the Higher Learning Commission this past May.”
Dr. Reese will continue in her current role as chair of the Department of Physical Therapy. As a professor in the Physical Therapy Department, she teaches neuroscience and gross anatomy as well as core courses in the Ph.D. program.
She has served on the faculty for over 20 years and has authored two textbooks, Muscle and Sensory Testing and Joint Range of Motion and Muscle Length Testing. She is the chief delegate for the Arkansas Physical Therapy Association (ArPTA). Her research interest is movement restoration following spinal cord injury, and her clinical specialty is adult and pediatric neurological rehabilitation. Dr. Reese received her Ph.D. in Anatomy from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and her Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from UCA.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Shaefer for his excellent leadership as SPARC chair,” Courtway added. “He played a key role in UCA’s successful reporting to the Higher Learning Commission. In addition, I thank Dr. Janet Wilson for her excellent service chairing the SBAC as president of the Faculty Senate. Under Dr. Wilson’s leadership, an open forum was held to discuss budgetary needs and a process to recommend spending priorities was established.”