This past July we welcomed our first class of DPT students.  Thus far, implementing the new curriculum has gone smoothly.  Although the new curriculum was built on our outstanding MPT curriculum, there are several new components.  We now have weekly rounds that are led by the faculty and clinic staff.  Please see our web page for the weekly topics and feel free to join us.  Finally, we had another successful homecoming celebration.  Thanks to Paul Schweitzer’s generous contribution, we were able to sponsor our third annual homecoming alumni lecture.  Dr. Anthony Delitto from the University of Pittsburgh gave a great lecture on Friday evening.  On Saturday morning, the rain moved our “tent” into the field house, but did not dampen our spirits.  Lots of alumni stopped by. 

 I want to take this opportunity to encourage all of our alumni to mark their calendars for two upcoming events.  First, the PT Department and DAPTA are sponsoring a reception for UD alumni this June 20th at the annual APTA meeting to be held in Washington DC.  Please use the accompanying response form to let Cyndi know if you will be attending.  The last time we sponsored such a reception, we had a great response from alumni.   This reception will be very special for Lynn Snyder-Mackler and me.  It will be a celebration noting our election as Catherine Worthingham Fellows of the APTA.  This is a great honor; Lynn and I hope you can join us.  The second event is our annual homecoming celebration on October 17 and 18, 2003.  Please plan to attend the first annual golf outing (being organized by our students), the lecture on Friday evening (details to follow), and our tent on Saturday morning before the game.  We are planning to make this a special event for those alumni celebrating their 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, or 25th class reunions.  Please contact Tara Manal (831-8893 or tarajo@udel.edu) if you are a member of any of these classes and are interested in organizing this event.  We can really use your help.  Also, if anyone is interested in sponsoring or co-sponsoring any of these events, please let me know. 

Finally, I would like to thank all of those alumni and friends who provided financial support to the department over the past year. Special thanks must be extended to Dr. Michael Axe for supporting three of our first year DPT students on partial (50%) graduate assistantships and Paul Schweitzer/Pro Physical Therapy for supporting one additional student.  If anyone is interested in providing a student with at least a 50% stipend ($3000/semester), the University will waive tuition proportional to the percentage of the stipend.  Please let me know if you would like to learn more about this program.    I am pleased to report that the number of alumni who contributed to the department and the total dollars contributed has continued to grow.  All of the gift money that we received over the past year was used to support the PT students graduation ceremony, partially fund student travel to the annual student conclave (unfortunately we did not have enough to partially support student travel to the national meetings this year), underwrite the cost of copying and mailing this newsletter, and pay for the costs associated with the homecoming events.  Although we have cut costs where possible (e.g., going with an electronic newsletter for those alumni that use email), we are not able to support all of these activities at the level that we would like.  So, I ask our alumni who have not yet contributed over the past year to consider making a contribution.  If EVERY alumnus contributed a small amount, we would not only have money both to support fully all of our current activities, we would be able to offer scholarships and assistantships to needy students.  Also, when you make your contribution, please be sure to designate your gift specifically to the Physical Therapy Department. 

 In closing I would like to wish all of our alumni and friends health and happiness.  I hope to see you in Washington or Newark real soon.

Best wishes and regards,
 

Stuart Binder-Macleod, PT, PhD, FAPTA
Professor and Chair