Dr. Renee Brown, professor of physical therapy, has been appointed as the new Physical Therapy Department Chairman as of June 1, according to Dr. Cathy Taylor, dean of the Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences & Nursing.

“We are indeed fortunate to have someone with Dr. Brown’s extensive academic preparation, and her notable teaching, clinical and administrative experience, assume this important position,” said Taylor. “I know you will join me in working to assure her a smooth transition and wish her the greatest success in this new leadership role.”

Brown takes the place of Dr. John Halle, who is returning to the classroom full-time.

Brown holds a B.S. in Physical Therapy from Daemen College in Amherst, N.Y.; the M.S. in Physical Therapy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Texas, Dallas. Prior to arriving at Belmont, she served in administrative roles at the Vanderbilt Bill Wilkerson Center, as acting chairman for the Ithaca College Physical Therapy Department and as interim chairman at the UT Southwestern Allied Health Sciences School, Department of Physical Therapy.

Since joining the Physical Therapy faculty at Belmont in 2005, Brown has served the University, the college and the department in an exemplary fashion. She is active in the American Physical Therapy Association at the national level, is experienced with academic accreditation requirements and is the out-going University institutional review board chairman. Additionally, she has led several medical mission trips, working to establish numerous partnerships in order to support these efforts and to make the experience more meaningful for both students and patients.

Dr. Bill Hooper, professor of computer science, has been accepted to present his workshop titled “Easy as Pi: An Inexpensive Platform for Machine Language Instruction” at the 20th Annual Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges (CCSC) Midwest Conference.

The conference will be held Sept. 20-21, at The University of Findlay in Findlay, Ohio. This two-day conference has refereed papers, invited speakers, tutorials, panels, workshops and discussions on computing science education issues in smaller colleges and departments.

The Consortium for Computing Sciences and Colleges (CCSC) is a non-profit organization focused on promoting quality computer-oriented curricula as well as effective use of computing in smaller institutions of higher learning which are typically non-research in orientation. It supports activities which assist faculty in making appropriate judgments concerning computing resources and educational applications of computer technology.

Dr. Michael Voight, professor of physical therapy, recently was named Educator of the Year by the Tennessee Physical Therapy Association (TPTA).

Voight was nominated for this honor by a former student, Dr. Ashley Campbell.

“In his life, Dr. Voight has educated thousands of students and clinicians, and I am lucky to be among that group,” said Campbell,  “as a student, Dr. Voight guided, encouraged and challenged me to be the best.  He taught me by example what it means to be great, and to never be satisfied with good.  He never ceases to amaze me in his passion and dedication to the profession of physical therapy, especially the education of both future and current clinicians.”

Voight has taught orthopedics at Belmont since 1998, the year after the graduate program in physical therapy was initiated by the University. In addition to his full-time role as professor, Voight serves as editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, consults with a number of noted golf professionals for the Titleist Performance Institute on the prevention, evaluation and treatment of golf injuries, and lectures extensively at various conferences, symposiums, and congresses both nationally and internationally, having given over 600 professional presentations on a variety of orthopedic and sports medicine topics.

In years past Voight has worked or consulted with a number of professional sports organizations, including the Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL), the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and various teams in Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Soccer (MLS).  Early in his career he became active within the United States Olympic Committee’s Sports Medicine Division. He has worked at the Olympic Training Center, Olympic Festivals, Pan Am Games, Olympic Games and has had the opportunity to travel to almost all of the different continents with various Olympic and national teams.

Most recently, Voight has worked with the Medical Commission for FIFA (the International governing body for soccer) and the Professional Golf Association (PGA).  He was selected in 2011 as a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), the most prestigious honor granted by the organization which recognizes those who have made lasting and significant advances in the science, education and practice of the profession of physical therapy.