the weekly source for radiology professionals

First Post

In what kind of setting do you practice? Please describe what it's like working in that kind of setting.
I work in a very progressive community college that is recognized for its state of the art technology as well as its efforts in student success. I feel so fortunate to have in my classroom an energized laboratory with film/screen technology and cassette-based digital technology (CR) with a mini-PACS. Our classroom has Smart technology, and we love having the capabilities of viewing our CR images in the front of the classroom and manipulating them on the Smart board. I couldn't ask for more dedicated students, and while my own two children have recently graduated from college, the plaque in my office window reads "Mom's Place." That's for the other 27 of them in my program.

How/why did you get into your particular field?
I have been in education for 29 years. I started this part of my career in Indiana as a clinical instructor/adjunct faculty for a college based program. The clinical education center where my office was located was the same hospital that I attended and graduated from X-ray school as a hospital based program. When the opportunity presented itself across the Ohio River at a local community college in Kentucky to begin a new radiography program, I accepted the program director position. I remained there for 13 years before relocating to Pennsylvania to again begin a new program as the director.

What are your greatest professional accomplishments thus far?
Having the foresight to complete my Masters degree in 1983; passing the mammography advanced level examination the first time it was offered; serving as president of a state professional organization; co-authoring a radiography workbook and a nursing Lab & Diagnostics textbook and speaking at a state conference. But my two greatest professional accomplishments by far are the number of students I have had the pleasure of guiding through the journey to this profession and the number of life long friends I have made across the United States.

What are your professional goals for the future?
To finish the rest of my career as strongly as I began by remaining active in the profession I love and being the best mentor I can possibly be.

Comments
You should be proud of those 2 students. I love the Geese story. Were you the instructor who taught them that on their first day? What a great way to start the bonding process.
# Posted By Julie | 5/11/07 9:18 PM
Yay! Debbie you've joined us! Welcome to the ranks! :P
# Posted By Jess | 5/22/07 11:32 AM
Have you run into for profit schools? I have a nephew who is going to one now in Seattle. Last year I was doing an interim dept. mngr job in CA and saw an Ultrasound school that really was not very good.
# Posted By John A. Froemke | 6/5/07 4:00 PM
We have not had a problem with the for profit schools in my immediate area, but I am very familiar with them in general as they had started to pop up in the area that I came from prior to moving to PA. Infortunately, most of those schools seemed to be more interested in taking in large numbers of students and infiltrating any clinical education center they could without necessarily being concerned for student success and necessary needed competencies. I am sure this is not the case for all of these programs, but if you are a for profit school, numbers are the bottom line. I am curious as to what other educators think?
# Posted By Debbie | 6/7/07 10:09 AM
APEX Award ASBPE Award APEX Award ASHPE Award