Purdue athletic training faculty earn double shot of national recognition

April 7, 2023
Alice Wilcoxson and Jennifer Popp pose for a picture in a health and kinesiology lab inside Lambert Fieldhouse.

Alice Wilcoxson, left, and Jennifer Popp, both clinical associate professors in the Purdue University Department of Health and Kinesiology, are recipients of 2023 Most Distinguished Athletic Trainers honors from the National Athletic Trainers’ Association. It is rare for two educators from the same program to receive the award in the same year.Tim Brouk

Written by: Tim Brouk, tbrouk@purdue.edu

Housed in the Purdue University College of Health and Human Sciences and the Department of Health and Kinesiology (HK), the athletic training graduate program earned a double shot of greatness this spring. Not one but two faculty members — clinical associate professors Alice Wilcoxson and Jennifer Popp — were named Most Distinguished Athletic Trainers (MDAT), one of the highest awards the National Athletic Trainers’ Association can give an individual.

The MDAT is awarded for distinguished service to the profession at the national level. Fewer than 1% of all athletic trainers have ever been awarded this honor. However, the roster of past awardees has Purdue’s influence all over it. Among many Purdue affiliated MDATs are Denny Miller, professor emeritus Larry Leverenz, Craig Voll (PhD, ’15), former Purdue athletic trainer Dale Rudd, Cathy Ortega (BA ’86), Sue Hillman (BS ‘76), adjunct assistant professor Ralph Reiff, John Shrader (BS ’71), 2023 distinguished alumna Kathleen Stroia, and HK Clinical Professor Scott Lawrance, who nominated both Popp and Wilcoxson for the MDAT. Now, 100% of HK’s full-time athletic training professors can place the coveted MDAT on their mantles.

Wilcoxson credited those athletic training instructors that established and innovated the field before her for Purdue’s current MDAT prowess.

“You don’t get there without those people opening doors, pushing you through and pulling you through them as far as professional development. They are part of the award,” she said.

Wilcoxson and Popp are two of 10 MDAT recipients for 2023. It is rare to have more than one member from the same academic program earn an MDAT in the same year, according to the newest Purdue MDATs.