2023 Patsy J. Mellott Teaching Innovation Award
Written By: Rebecca Hoffa, rhoffa@purdue.edu
(From left to right) Alice Wilcoxson, Jillian Hubertz and Janelle Tipton
An interdisciplinary team comprised of Alice Wilcoxson, clinical associate professor in the Department of Health and Kinesiology; Jillian Hubertz, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences; and Janelle Tipton, clinical assistant professor in the School of Nursing is the 2023 recipient of the Patsy J. Mellott Teaching Innovation Award. Established by College of Health and Human Sciences (HHS) alumna Patsy Mellott, the award supports HHS faculty who demonstrate their excellence and leadership as teachers by proposing significant innovations to enhance the quality of HHS education programs.
Wilcoxson, Hubertz and Tipton will apply the award funds toward costs associated with developing a clinical education event that will allow athletic training, audiology and nursing students to collaborate and provide wellness screenings to individuals experiencing homelessness at Lafayette Transitional Housing Center (LTHC), which is serving as a community partner on the project.
This interprofessional education opportunity, which allows students pursuing three different health profession areas to learn from each other, aims to improve patient-centered care by preparing students with real-world examples of how these disciplines can overlap. Simultaneously, it fills a community need by bringing preventative healthcare to individuals who are using LTHC’s services.
The event will be broken into three sections: pre-work, a pre-event meeting and an on-site wellness screening day. The pre-work will help students develop an understanding of communication across professions, team building and LTHC as a community entity. In the pre-event meeting, the students will learn about considerations for working with individuals experiencing homelessness as well as educate each other about their respective disciplines and screening measures. On the day of the wellness screening, students will work in teams to provide screenings to individuals at LTHC and determine the results. After the event, students and their faculty facilitators will discuss the experience.
After the event, Wilcoxson, Hubertz and Tipton plan to assess student outcomes through student self-reflection surveys as well as faculty facilitator feedback to determine improvements to students’ clinical decision-making and patient-centered care skills. The continued health needs of LTHC guests will also be assessed.
The Patsy J. Mellott Teaching Innovation Award provides up to $3,000 for one year to an individual or small groups of HHS faculty for a wide variety of innovative projects, including but not limited to the design of new courses, the development of new models for teaching existing courses, the creation of new curricula, and the purchase of equipment to enrich students’ learning in a course or set of courses.
For more information, please contact Wilcoxson, Hubertz, Tipton or senior associate dean Tom Berndt.
- Alice Wilcoxson, clinical associate professor, Department of Health and Kinesiology, wilcoxso@purdue.edu.
- Jillian Hubertz; clinical assistant professor; Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences; hubertz@purdue.edu.
- Janelle Tipton, clinical assistant professor, School of Nursing, jmtipton@purdue.edu.
- Tom Berndt, senior associate dean for academic affairs and administration, College of Health and Human Sciences, berndt@purdue.edu.
View past recipients:
2022 Patsy J. Mellot Teaching Innovation Award Recipients