The Pulse

Frequent difficult times cause us to seek new opportunities. These opportunities can include a different position in the same unit or a different position in a different unit, or a different position in a new geographic place. In 2013, I found myself in the middle of a very difficult situation professionally. I had been at the institution for 23 and a half years, and had planned to retire there, but the circumstances in which I found myself were very stressful, random and stifling to my professional growth. The situation was bad enough to cause me to search for opportunities elsewhere. The discomfort I felt in my current role outweighed the fear of moving to a new location and starting a new position. By mid-2014, I found myself in a place that I would not have sought out 12 months before. I learned a great deal from my difficult situation and have encouraged others through similar experiences. One of the most important things I learned is that sometimes you must lose something to attain something better. As I read Dr. Henry Cloud’s book, "Necessary Endings," the words on the page felt very familiar.

“So, I just had this incredible awareness that in a strange way, everything I have that is of value has come from being willing to end something that I was doing and go to the next step. The endings and the great new beginnings are somehow linked together. You can’t have one without the other. It is a weird paradox, but that is what I really think” (2010, p. 230).

Please do not take this note as a subliminal message to quit your current position. That is not my intent at all. I mean to suggest that if you are restless in your current role, perhaps you need to change it up. This can mean you decide to take on new or different responsibilities within your current role. Have the courage to break away from what is very familiar to try something new. You might find yourself in a place that you never thought you would be and happier than you could ever have imagined.

Cloud, H. (2010). Necessary endings. HarperCollins.

The COHS Awards and Scholarship Committee selected Jinkyung Park as the Excellence in Scholarship & Creative Endeavors Award recipient. The award aims to encourage and reward excellence in peer‐reviewed juried scholarship and creative endeavors.

The committee also selected Liz Speelman as the Excellence in Teaching Award recipient. The award aims to encourage and reward excellence, innovation, and effectiveness in teaching.

Read more about these remarkable women below.

Jinkyung Park, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Exercise Science. Dr. Park earned her bachelor of science degrees in sports medicine and food and nutrition and her master of science degree in medical nutrition from Kyung-hee University in South Korea. Dr. Park received her doctor of philosophy in exercise physiology from Baylor University in 2016. She has studied exercise-induced stress hormones and cell-adhesion molecules in obesity. Her research interests are cardiovascular prevention, obesity, and aging. Dr. Park’s current research emphasizes obesity-induced vascular inflammation, focusing on exercise and nutritional intervention of vascular inflammation. Mentoring undergraduate research is one of her most rewarding activities as a professor. She has served as an assistant director for the School of Health and Human Performance Scholars (SHHPS). Dr. Park is grateful to the School of Health and Human Performance, especially Dr. Kelly Massey, for pivotal guidance in becoming an effective and compassionate undergraduate research mentor early in her career.

Pictured below: Dr. Jin Park

Dr. Liz Speelman has had the privilege of teaching in unique environments - in the forest, on top of a climbing tower, on a tall ship, in a physics classroom in Africa, on an open lake – and with students very young to seniors. At Clemson University, she first realized her passion to work with college-aged individuals who are figuring out their passion and potential.

Dr. Speelman is Canadian and has always loved the outdoors. In Canada, she started her college career with a B.Sc. in environmental science from the University of Guelph. This took her to Ghana, where Dr. Speelman taught physics for two years through Voluntary Services Overseas. Upon her return, she started working on environmental programs for youth through Clemson University’s Youth Learning Institute. From here, she had her first experience with Georgia College when she came to complete her M.Ed. in Outdoor Education Administration. After a brief stint back with Clemson in 2009, she began teaching at Georgia College and became Director of the Outdoor Center.

During her time at Georgia College, Dr. Speelman engaged in various committees at the university. From university strategic planning committees to interviewing students for national scholarships, she enjoys engaging with faculty and students across campus. Professionally she has been involved in accreditation and other educational committees with the Association for Experiential Education and the Association for Challenge Course Technology. In 2020, she led a team of authors to write the first academic textbook for the challenge course industry, "Aerial Adventure Environments (Human Kinetics)."

Experiential education is at the heart of Dr. Speelman’s passion for teaching. Bringing meaning and application to every lesson helps students take ownership of their learning. Not all students who come through her classes will work in outdoor education. Still, she desires to use these classes to help students work through the foundational skills of working with others, such as communication, leadership, decision-making and conflict management skills. These are life-long skills they can take with them wherever they go.

Pictured below: Liz Speelman

Dr. Lisa Griffin, EdD, Physical Education-Teacher Education

When she is not chasing down her two doodles, Auggie and Boomer, you will find Dr. Lisa Griffin providing administrative leadership within GC’s School of Health and Human Performance. Dr. Griffin has served as the director of the School of Health & Human Performance (SHHP) since 2013. Her leadership style reflects her desire to make people feel welcome, included and respected. While she states that “this may not always happen, she strives for this as the director.”

Before 2013, she was the Chair of the Department of Kinesiology at Georgia College (2010-2013) and the Program Coordinator for the Master in Arts in Teaching (MAT) Kinesiology/Physical Education degree (2008-2009). Dr. Griffin said that during her tenure as the director, she was “most proud of the collegiality and sense of belonging and worthiness that we have built in SHHP.”

Before coming to Georgia College, Dr. Griffin served as a principal in a K-8 charter school and as a college professor. Her jobs have taken her to West Virginia, Maine, New York and North Carolina. Dr. Griffin is a certified health and physical education teacher who earned a master’s degree in motor development and a doctorate in physical education teacher education from West Virginia University.

Pictured below from left to right: Auggie, Dr. Lisa Griffin, Dr. Mandy Jarriel

• The new National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) "Essentials of Personal Training" textbook is out. Our very own Dr. Mike Martino co-chaptered (Chapter 16, Aerobic Training Program Design) with Dr. Nicole C Dabbs.
• Public Health Senior Victoria Massey was accepted into Georgia College’s Masters of Management Information Systems Graduate Program.

Dr. Josie Doss, Ph.D., MSN, RNC-OB, SANE-A

Born and raised in the Dakotas, Dr. Josie Doss married into the military in 1991. She received her associate degree in nursing from State Fair Community College in Sedalia, Missouri; her BSN and MSN from Troy University in Montgomery, Alabama; and her Ph.D. from Georgia State University. Her family landed in Warner Robins, Georgia, in May of 2003 on military orders, and it has been “home” ever since.

Dr. Doss has been a nurse for almost 25 years and has clinical experience with pediatrics, labor and delivery, postpartum, obstetrical care, post-operative care and forensic medical care. She has been a full-time nurse educator since 2003 and has been at Georgia College since 2011.

Since her arrival at GC, she has taught across the undergraduate curriculum focusing on maternal-infant care, pediatrics, and senior practicum. At the graduate level, she teaches curriculum concerning vulnerable populations and has served on several DNP committees as both chair and member. Dr. Doss has received over $800,000 in federal funding to build and support a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) training program.

Dr. Doss and her husband Greg have four children. Briana lives in Port Orange, Florida; Samantha lives in Asheville, North Carolina; Jordan is a student and Army Cadet at the University of Alabama (ROLL TIDE); and Josh is a student at Houston County High School in Warner Robins. In her spare time, Josie enjoys traveling to visit her children and woodworking.

Pictured below: Dr. Josie Doss

At the fall 2021 semester came to a close, graduate nursing and simulation faculty/staff conducted a three-day skills training and standardized patient event for 75 graduate students. These students were from various programs of study within the SON at the Simulation and Translational Research Center. Students learned essential skills like motivational interviewing, alcohol dependency risk screening and advanced physical assessment techniques. After the experience, each student was able to apply didactic content from the semester and their newly acquired skills with two standardized patient experiences. At the conclusion, students expressed their gratitude for providing such a well-rounded learning experience.

A special thank you to all COHS/SON faculty and staff volunteers. GC SON would also not have been able to accommodate an event of this size without the support of our partners at Atrium Navicent Baldwin Hospital for allowing us to use their education center.

Congratulations to the following students:

Mallory Allen, Amber Anderson, Victoria Barnes, Grace Boughton, Anabel Brenner, Jenny Brightwell, Sarah Brooks, Savannah Brown, Olivia Brozek, Jade Campbell, Margaret Ruth Clark, Camryn Davis, Anna Elliott, Anne Ellise, Samantha Fisher, Logan Freeman, Kaitlynn Frier, Hannah Gillespie, Courtney Goetzman, Rebecca Greene, Ashlyn Hickmon, Rebecca High, Mikayla Janis, Lily Kate Jordan, Caroline Kraus, Katelyn LaRusso, Ashley Lee, Jenny Long, Margaret Lowenstein, Kristin Martin, Taryn McGlathery, Jessica McGuire, Cheyenne McMillan, Anna Meeks, Jacy Mercardante, Kennedy Mirocha, Quinn Miotti, Payton Navas, Michelle Nguyen, Kiersten Nunes, Katherine Oliver, Julianna Perritt, Darby Pinkard, Emily Pope, Jeffrey Redmon, Jordan Reeves, Kylie Robinson, Breanne Roenick-Lawson, Laine Scarritt, Madison Smith, Courtney Thornton, Camryn Weir, Grace Wilson

Check out the Facebook link to the Pinning Ceremony.

• Enya Filberg (Exercise Science, 2019) and Lika Schaaf (Exercise Science, 2020) are starting the DPT program at the University of St Augustine.

College of Health Sciences Associate Dean, Dr. Daniel Czech, and Gold Medalist Butch Reynolds will be giving this lecture at The Rock House, Reynolds Lake Oconee, on February 8 @ 5 pm. Reservations will begin on January 7. Contact Reynolds Concierge at 706-467-1111 to reserve a seat.

Dr. Carol Sapp is an active member of the Georgia Nurses Association(GNA). GNA was reported as the Geriatric Nursing Association. We sincerely apologize for this error. The November edition of the Pulse has been corrected.

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