Conferences and Presentations Spring 2025

Elizabeth Alicea-Torres, OT, OTD, OTR/L, assistant professor of Occupational Therapy and doctoral capstone coordinator, and Andrea Coppola, OT, OTD, OTR/L, CHSE, associate professor of Occupational Therapy, co-presented “Using simulation to enhance occupational therapy student competence in performing home safety evaluations to facilitate aging-in-place” at the American Occupational Therapy Association annual conference in Philadelphia, Pa., in April 2025. 

Simone B. Alter-Muri, EdD, professor and director of graduate Art Therapy/Counseling, presented “Tattoos, symbols and their place in art therapy” for Pune Maharashtra University (virtually) in Pune, India, in March 2025.

Minseok Cho, PhD, assistant professor of Sport Management and Recreation, presented “Impacts of team identification on sports fans’ decisions to adopt video assistant referee (VAR)” at the Sport Marketing Association Conference in St. Louis, Mo., in November 2024. He also co-presented “Risk management in the esports industry about in-game items based on non-fungible tokens (NFTs)” at the Applied Sport Management Association Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, in February 2025. 

Ian Delahanty, PhD, associate professor of History, presented “Hibernianism or Americanism? The Irish origins of Irish-American anti-abolitionism” at the Fairfield Gaelic American Club Irish History Lecture Series in Fairfield, Conn., in February 2025.

Justine Dymond, PhD, MFA, professor of English, read excerpts of her creative writing on a panel titled “The Body in Writing,” and presented her literary scholarship titled “The Voicebox of the Rink": Tommy Orange's ‘Scorekeep’ and a Vision of America” at the Northeast Modern Language Association Conference in Philadelphia, Pa., in March 2025. 

Melih Elcin, MD, assistant dean for Interprofessional Education in the School of Health Sciences, presented “Use of simulation as a tool in diagnosis and cognitive-behavioral therapy of performance anxiety: A novel intervention in a nursing school” at the International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare in Orlando, Fla., in January 2025.

Adam Feit, PhD, assistant professor of Exercise Science, presented “Turning impact into income: Profit and purpose in coaching” at the 2025 Bridge Athletic Virtual Performance Summit in March 2025. Feit also co-presented “Fueling performance: Strengthening collaboration between coaches, nutritionists, and athletes through psychology-driven coaching” at the National Strength and Conditioning Association National Coaches Conference in New Orleans, La., in January 2025. Feit’s co-presenter was James Russo, Class of 2025, an undergraduate student in Applied Exercise Science. This presentation was sponsored by Gatorade, which selected Feit to be a Gatorade Performance Partner to represent the brand. 

Megan E. Frazier, DPT, assistant professor of Physical Therapy, presented “Developmental Coordination Disorder: Overview and updates” at the Academy of Pediatric Physical Therapy Annual Conference in Providence, R.I., in November 2024. 

Erin Futrell, PhD, associate professor of Physical Therapy, presented “Effects of 16-weeks of intrinsic foot muscle strengthening interventions on fall-risk in older adults” at the American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections Meeting in Houston, Texas, in February 2025. At the same meeting, Futrell also presented “Relationships between older adult foot structure and intrinsic foot muscles using musculoskeletal ultrasound imaging.”

Shannon Gifford, EdD, professor of Health Education and program director for graduate programs in Health Promotion and Health Equity, co-presented “Practice what you teach: Fostering positive mental health among pre-service teachers” at the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education Annual Conference in Long Beach, Calif., in February 2025. Her co-presenter was Olya Clark, PhD, assistant professor of Health Promotion and program director for the Educational Equity and Social Justice graduate program. Gifford and Clark also co-presented the webinar “What does equitable and culturally responsive teaching look like?” for the American School Health Association (ASHA) virtual event in January 2025. The pair also co-presented “Theater skits assignments as health promotion and health education tools in the classroom and beyond” at the ASHA conference in Pittsburg, Pa., in November 2024. And Gifford and Clark co-presented their paper “Advancing positive mental health among children and adolescents: Learning experiences designed to promote health and reduce risk” at the ASHA annual meeting in Pittsburg, Pa., in October 2024.

Sue Guyer, DPE, professor of Athletic Training and dean of the School of Physical Education, Performance, and Sport Leadership, presented “Understanding and diagnosing common lower extremity injuries in the aging athlete” at the 51st Eastern Athletic Training Education Educational Symposium and Business Meeting in Philadelphia, Pa., in January 2025.

Anthony C. Hill, EdD, associate professor of Social Work, was the keynote speaker at the National Association of Social Workers Massachusetts Chapter Inaugural Culturally Responsive Social Work Practice in Behavioral Health Conference (virtually) in November 2024. He presented, "United we stand, divided we fall: Social workers advocating for belonging and connection!”.

Christine T. Johnston, MPH, director of Campus Recreation and Health Promotion, and Lauren Gray, LICSW, assistant director of outreach and prevention in the Counseling Center, co-presented “Creating a model of campus care: Beyond the basics of mental health training for faculty and staff” at the New England College Health Association Annual meeting in Portland, Maine, in November 2024.

Loni Kearney, PA-C, assistant professor of Physician Assistant Studies, presented “When headaches signal danger: An emergency perspective” at the Massachusetts Association of Physician Associates in Springfield, Mass., in March 2025. 

Allison Martel, MLIS, digital technologies librarian, co-presented “Your key to the OCLC Community Center: Insights from library staff on enhancing library value” as a panelist for the Ohio College Library Center (OCLC) Community Center virtually in January 2025. 

Matt Mills, EdD, assistant professor of Athletic Training, presented “Evaluation and management of low back pain: An evidence guided approach” at the Eastern Athletic Trainers’ Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Pa., in January 2025.

Susan Milstein, PhD, assistant professor of Physical Education and Health Education, presented “Engaging men in workplace health portion efforts” at the Healthy Worksite Summit in Lynnwood, Wash., in March 2025. They also co-presented “Introduction to LGBTQIA+ inclusion in health and PE” at the Wakefield Professional Development Conference in Wakefield, Mass., in January 2025. Their co-presenter was Danielle Pantano, a Springfield College graduate student.

Michelle E. Moosbrugger, PhD, professor of Physical Education and chair of the Department of Physical Education and Health Education, co-presented “Leveraging movement to support executive function in preK-2 children” at the Massachusetts Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance Convention in Worcester, Mass., in November 2024. Her co-presenter was Binbin Li, Graduate Class of 2026 in the PhD in Physical Education program.

Fadia Nordtveit, PhD, assistant professor of Communications and Business, was the keynote speaker at the DiFree ERASMUS Conference at the University of Tuscia in Rome, Italy, in January 2025. Her topic was “AI, inclusion and the gig economy.”

Elizabeth O’Neill, DPE, professor of Exercise Science and director of the Applied Exercise Science program, presented “Understanding sarcopenia: The silent decline of muscle health and its impact on aging,” at the Massachusetts Association of Cardiovascular & Pulmonary Rehabilitation virtual conference in January 2025.

Amanda M. Rodriguez, OTD, assistant professor of Occupational Therapy and undergraduate program coordinator, and Latasha Dionne, OTD, assistant professor of Occupational Therapy, co-presented “Adulting Academy: A novel adolescent Level I fieldwork” at the Massachusetts Association of Occupational Therapy Annual Conference in Norwood, Mass., in November 2024. Rodriguez and Dionne also co-presented “Adulting Academy: Inception & implementation of a community-based adolescent Level I fieldwork” at the American Occupational Therapy Association Education Summit in Charlotte, N.C., in November 2024. And at the same summit, Rodriguez presented “Experience of participation in immersion Level I mental health fieldwork.” 

Samantha A. Scott, PhD, assistant professor of Athletic Training, presented “Breaking barriers: Teaming up for better patient outcomes through interprofessional education” at the Eastern Athletic Trainers' Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Pa., in January 2025.

Paul Thifault, PhD, associate professor of English, presented “The future of the American literary archive” and "Publishing and editing: Highlighting English major skills through campus partnerships” at the Northeast Modern Language Association Conference in Philadelphia, Pa., in March 2025.