PHILIPPI, W.Va.—August 16, 2019—Twenty-eight members of the Class of 2019 Physician Assistant Studies Program received their Master of Science degrees, and four members of the first Teacher Leader program graduating class received their Master of Education degrees during AB’s Graduate Commencement Ceremony in Wilcox Chapel on August 16.
The Physician Assistant Studies Class of 2019 include: Charlene Marie Arena from Aliquippa, Pa.; Rachel Christine Ashley from Teays Valley, W.Va.; Megan Dawn Bartlett from Fairmont, W.Va.; Keri Bedillion from Washington, Pa.; Shawn T. Beltz from Mt. Gilead, Ohio; Vivian Angelica Bracero from Manassas, Va.; Jordan Ann Brewer from Uniontown, Pa.; Nida Rasool Chaudhry from Manassas, Va.; Marie Christenson from Buffalo, Mn.; Amanda Mary Fitzgerald from Mokena, Ill.; Tonya Marie Gayman from Washington, Pa.; Avery Gookin from Morgantown, W.Va.; Jory C. Gotham from Gouverneur, N.Y.; Elizabeth Katheryn Holsclaw from Trenton, Mich.; Alexa Danielle Kuenzel from Ste. Genevieve, Mo.; Elizabeth Marie Luttner from Pittsburgh, Pa.; Melanie Marie Lyon from Mesa, Ariz.; Michelle Nicolette Mandus from Pittsburgh, Pa.; Elizabeth Sinclair McLean from Charlotte, N.C.; Robert Oshnock, II from Macomb, Mich.; Amelia Katelyn Paine from Daniels, W.Va.; Joe Jaxon Panelli from Mesa, Ariz.; Nicolai Armand Pineda from Atlanta, Ga.; Ethan Ramsey from New Milton, W.Va.; Nicholas Ronald Schubring from New Glarus, Wis.; Sahara Joelle Stanley from Princeton, W.Va.; Aleksandra Tomczyk from Whippany, N.J.; and Rawan Zeidan from Swartz Creek, Mich.
These professionals join a long line of physician assistants graduating from the nation’s first physician assistant program, founded in 1968 by AB’s own Dr. Hu C. Myers.
The Teacher Leadership Class of 2019 includes Marian Katherine Cummings from Lumberport, W.Va.; Jennifer M. Fleshman from Parkersburg, W.Va.; Erin Catherine Gallagher from Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Jerri Lynn Hinebaugh from Bridgeport, W.Va. AB’s Teacher Leader program is designed to assist teachers in becoming leaders in their schools, provide a strong understanding of research-based practices, and guide authentic, hands-on research within their classroom and school.
The commencement speaker, Jeff Lamphere has the privilege of being a 1986 and 2009 graduate of AB University, a current member of the AB Board of Trustees, and adjunct professor of health professional services at Campbell University College of Pharmacy & Health Science in Buies Creek, N.C.
Lamphere’s address to the class, titled “Remembering the Man in the Mirror,” left students with a message of faith, hope, and love in all things. He urged graduates to use what they have learned to find their passion and do what they love, to take words of wisdom as they come, and remember to learn from life’s greatest lessons.
Associate Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Joan Propst presented the class with degrees. Four students were inducted into Pi Alpha, the national Physician Assistant honor society that honors significant academic achievement, leadership, research, community, and professional service. Those awarded were: Charlene Marie Arena, Megan Dawn Bartlett, Amanda Mary Fitzgerald, and Tonya Marie Gayman.
Graduate students of the Physician Assistant Studies Program were presented hoods by College of Medical Science Dean and Physician Assistant Studies Program Director Thomas Moore. Graduates of the Teacher Leader program were presented hoods by College of Education and Music Dean Erin Brumbaugh and Education Adjunct Senior Lecturer Joseph Super.
AB University President Dr. Tim Barry conferred the degrees and left the graduates with his last remarks, “your labor has not been in vain as you have prepared yourself for a career of service to humankind.”
About Alderson Broaddus University
Alderson Broaddus (AB) University is a private, four-year institution of higher education located on a historic hilltop in Barbour County in Philippi, West Virginia. Since its founding in 1871, AB has been a leader and innovator in higher education, with accolades in the health and natural sciences.
AB stands out as one of the most innovative health education providers in Appalachia, pioneering the nation’s first baccalaureate Physician Assistant program of its kind in 1968, the first post-baccalaureate Physician Assistant Master’s degree program in 1990, and West Virginia’s first four-year Nursing program in 1945. For more information, visit www.ab.edu
