The Combined Sections Meeting of the American Physical Therapy Association took place from February 4-7, 2015 in Indianapolis. Four students from the UTEP DPT Class of 2015 attended the meeting with support from the UTEP Dodson Fund. Special thanks to the Dodson Fund for its support of our students' professional development. Core DPT Faculty members also attended the meeting. Dr. Celia Pechak, Dr. Deborah Diaz and Dr. Loretta Dillon in collaboration with Dr. Sarah Pullen from Emory University and Dr. Susan Tappert from Rosalind Franklin University were on the conference program. Their presentation session entitled, "Addressing Health Disparities by Promoting Linguistic Competence. focused on UTEP's DPT unique approach to integrating medical Spanish throughout the DPT curriculum. Dr. Pullen discussed Emory University's approach to Spanish education while Dr. Tappert focused on training physical therapy students to use medical interpreters.

The Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT) Program is pleased to announce that Dr. Stephanie Capshaw has re-joined the OT Program as a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences. Dr. Capshaw was formerly the MOT Program Director prior to taking a position in January 2014 at the Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation and STAR Center in Denver Colorado. She brought back additional expertise after working closely with Lucy Jane Miller, PhD, a nationally known researcher in the field of sensory processing disorder. Dr. Capshaw will be teaching several courses including the core pediatric series in the OT curriculum. The students and faculty of OT Program are thrilled to have her back in the UTEP MOT program. Please join us in welcoming back Dr. Capshaw.

The Center for Interdisciplinary Health Research and Evaluation (CIHRE) hosts a monthly forum focused on health research conducted by UTEP faculty.  The monthly series, known as The Healthy Exchange affords faculty an opportunity to present research interests and research findings to their colleagues. Dr. Jennifer Sánchez led the Spring 2015 lecture series with her discussion on "Extending the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) to Examine Predictors of Quality of Life in Adults with Severe Mental Illness." Her research has focused on improving the quality of life of individuals with mental illness. This study was funded in part by the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Evidence-Based Practice in Vocational Rehabilitation (RRTC-EBP VR) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Wisconsin-Stout and with funding provided by the U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR; Grant H133B100034). Findings from the study indicated that higher levels of disability acceptance, resilience, empathy, social competence, social support, and participation were associated with greater levels of quality of life. Conversely, higher levels of self-stigma, societal stigma, psychological distress, cognitive dysfunction, and activity limitations were associated with lower levels of quality of life. The ICF was successful at predicting quality of life for adults with severe mental illness. In the final model, social competency, social support, cognitive dysfunction, and participation were associated with better quality of life; while, societal stigma, psychological distress, and activity limitations were associated with poorer quality of life.

Eighteen UTEP faculty, staff, and students attended the forum. The topic was well received and incited numerous questions, which provided opportunity for reflection on the current study as well as scholarly dialogue to conceptualize future study directions, such as cultural and linguistic considerations when working with Hispanics with mental illness, utilizing a more representative sample, and striving for longitudinal studies. As a result of her presentation at The Healthy Exchange, several faculty and students have reached out to Dr. Sánchez with interest for current and future collaboration.

On Saturday, February 14^th, UTEP hosted its Annual Orange and Blue Day by opening its campus to high school students from the El Paso region. Thousands of students and parents had the opportunity to explore the university and learn about Miner student life. Each academic college opened its doors and provided information about the different majors they offer.

College of Health Sciences faculty and staff proudly set-up the displays for its nine disciplines - Clinical Laboratory Science, Kinesiology, Social Work, Public Health Sciences, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Speech Language Pathology, Pharmacy and Rehabilitation Counseling - and the UTEP Wellness Program. Over 300 students and parents were welcomed by a presentation made by Dr. Kathleen Curtis, Dean of the College of Health Sciences, and Dr. Gloria McKee, Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Programs at the School of Nursing. After attending the college presentation, the students were given the option to attend the individual presentations being offered by faculty and representatives from the different disciplines. It was a great opportunity for students to network with current students and see what each major has to offer. In addition, the students were able to tour the College of Health Sciences/School of Nursing facilities which included the Clinical Simulation Laboratory, the Clinical Laboratory Science Teaching Laboratory, the Exercise Science Teaching Laboratory and the Group Observation Classroom.

After getting a glimpse of what the college has to offer, the majority of students continued on their UTEP walking tours and received information about the admissions process, scholarships, international student visas and financial aid.