Following its successful campaign to receive full accreditation for its newest doctoral program, Brenau University has named Dr. Heather Ross chair of the Department of Physical Therapy.
Ross replaces Dr. Kathye Light, the founding chair of the department who in the past five years has steered it from its early planning stages, through the graduation on May 4 of its first cohort of 37 doctors of physical therapy, and earlier this month, to full recognition by the national Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education. Following that accomplishment, the university awarded Light a 15-month sabbatical, after which she will return to a newly created position to spearhead interdisciplinary research initiatives that will, among other things, keep the Brenau PT program in good standing with the accrediting body.
Ross joined the Brenau faculty in May 2015 – just as the first PT students arrived on campus. She earned a Ph.D. in anatomy and neurobiology from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2006.
Brenau Provost Jim Eck said that the university granted Dr. Ross the sabbatical lasting until August 2019 “in recognition of and appreciation for her technical leadership through the accreditation process.” Although she plans to continue her own research and see patients at the Brenau clinic during her leave, it is planned that she will return to Brenau as the Roslyn Wallace Distinguished Research Professor to build and execute multi-disciplined applied research projects involving physical therapy, occupational therapy, nursing, gerontology and other Brenau academic branches.
