Texas Chiropractic College Board of Regents honors faculty with W.D. Harper Award

August 15, 2013 — The Texas Chiropractic College Board of Regents has honored the college’s faculty with the William D. Harper Science of Existence Achievement Award, the school’s highest accolade. Faculty members received the award during a surprise announcement at TCC’s annual convention last month. As some faculty members were unable to attend the event, and additional ceremony was held Tuesday evening on campus.

“While discussing the continued hard work and the many achievements of our faculty, and their students, during board meetings, selecting them to honor with the Harper Award was an obvious choice,” said Dr. Monte Blue, chairman of the TCC Board of Regents. “We are proud of what they’ve accomplished so far, and are excited to have the opportunity to publicly applaud their work.”

Of special interest to the board have been achievements in the areas of national board scores, research participation, enhancements of the student experience on many levels, and the reaffirmation of accreditation with the Council on Chiropractic Education. TCC students have demonstrated marked improvement on national board exams over the most recent testing periods as a result of curricular changes and teaching enhancements spearheaded by the faculty.

TCC made a record showing at the 2013 Association of Chiropractic Colleges’ Research Agenda Conference, with 46 percent of the faculty participating in the presented research. Additionally, nine TCC students were involved in the research presented. The faculty engagement with students on research extends beyond ACC/RAC as students are now presenting their own research at national conferences, including the Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students, the National Center for Human Performance, and the American Chiropractic Board of Sports Practitioners – Sports Symposium.

“I think I speak for the faculty when I say we were all taken by surprise by this prestigious honor and are very appreciative of the Board of Regents recognizing us as this year’s recipients,” said Dr. Martha Friesen, TCC faculty association president. “We’re all teachers, and to be rewarded for what we love to do is rare in academia. Usually it’s for how many letters there are at the end of your name, or how many citations you have in journals. All of us work here at TCC because we love to teach.”

The TCC faculty continues to hone their skills, working with professional educators at area universities, including the University of Houston – Clear Lake and Baylor College of Medicine, in the areas of research and curriculum development.

The TCC summer 2013 faculty members receiving the prestigious award are: Alan Adams, Brian Batenchuck, Victor Benavides, Aladin Boriek, Jesse Coats, Stefanie Coforio, Jeffrey Coyle, Dwain Daniel, Karlene Denby, Steve Dyess, Kimary Farrar, Stephen Foster, Martha Friesen, Leonard Giblin, Denise Haynes, Brad Koby, Carla Kruger, Catherine Leduc-Ramcharan, Ezzat Mikhail, Patricia Moore, John Mrozek, Nancy Petersen, Michele Quattlebaum, Michael Ramcharan, Robert Routh, David Schimp, Ken Sorrels, Ces Soyring, Dorrie Talmage, Alan Thompson, Jeff Thompson, Ken Tyer, Lee Van Dusen, John Ward, Carol Webb, Jeff Weiss, Barry Wiese, Amy Wright, Larry Wyatt, Shari Wynd, Isis Zaki, and Fred Zuker.

The award is named for William D. Harper, DC, president of TCC from 1965 to 1976, the college’s first 11 years in Pasadena after moving from San Antonio. A native of Texas who grew up in various locales in the Lone Star State, in Mexico, and in the Boston area, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degree in engineering in 1933 and 1934 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and his chiropractic degree at TCC in 1942. Prior to being named president,Harper was a member of the TCC faculty for 15 years.

Source: Texas Chiropractic College, txchiro.edu