|
|
Longtime volunteer in the field of brain injury
rehabilitation Suzanne
Kelley Doswell '74 received the Brain Injury
Association of America's (BIAA) prestigious
Founders' Award in December 2009, honoring her for
"leadership, integrity and dedicated service."
Suzanne's involvement began in 1992 when she herself
was severely injured in a head-on collision. "My
life journey took me from the world of independent
school administration ... into that of brain
injury," she says. "I found myself in the
world of disability and in an unfamiliar culture
that called me to become a forceful advocate of
others." Her next 17 years were devoted to
learning and sharing all she could about brain
injury. She served on numerous boards in her home
state of
Massachusetts
and was recognized with awards from both the Brain
Injury Association of Massachusetts (BIAMA) and the Commonwealth
of
 Massachusetts.
In 2000, Suzanne "graduated" to federal
level advocacy, working with the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services and lending her
considerable experience and expertise to various
programs and committees. Certified as a Brain Injury
Specialist in 2003, Suzanne was promptly elected to
BIAA's board of directors and in 2006 joined BIAMA's
staff as Western Regional Manager, providing
information and counseling to both private
individuals and professionals. Suzanne credits
Western as "not only conducive to creative
learning and self growth, but also to exploring the
gifts of other cultures and appreciation of
everyone's treasures." Even today, she
believes, "Freedom With Responsibility, the
Western mantra of the '70s, remains a guide as I
share ideas, gather knowledge and search for answers
that will improve the quality of life for the
survivors of brain injury." |
|
|
|
|
As of August 1, 2010, Molly M. Eggleston
'94 became Executive Director of the
National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE).
Molly had been on the staff in the
Pittsburgh
headquarters, was previously part-time
consultant to the NBPHE, and is currently the
part-time executive director for the
Foundation to Advance Public Health through
Certification. Before her  involvement
with NBPHE, Molly was a deputy executive
director at the University of Pittsburgh
Graduate School of Public Health Center for
Public Health Practice. She is a Certified
Health Education Specialist, as well as a
member of the Charter Class of Certified in
Public Health. At Western in the early '90s,
Molly says the WCP provided her with "inspiration and success models." She
"felt a kinship with then-Secretary of the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Donna Shalala ['62], because she was a
Western
College
grad" and had "visions of meeting her as I
moved into health care work." Her
master's
thesis (for her degree in Public Health from
the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
was "less daunting after successfully
completing the Senior Paper," and today she
appreciates the writing-intensive
competency-based curriculum offered in the
Western Program even more: "Working in the
Ida Montimer Windate Writing Center honed my
writing and editing skills, which I use daily
for press releases, peer-reviewed journal
articles, web content, and proposals to the
National Board of Public Health Examiners." |
|
