In sympathy – Jack Magruder, EdD, former ATSU president, passes
It is with sadness I share with you the passing of W. Jack Magruder, EdD, DHL (hon.), president emeritus of A.T. Still University. Dr. Magruder served as ATSU’s 11th president from 2008-2012.
A native of northeast Missouri, Dr. Magruder earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and mathematics from Northeast Missouri State Teachers College (now Truman State University), where he also met his wife, Sue, in 1954. They married shortly after and shared a life of partnership and devotion.
Dr. Magruder began his career at Truman State University in 1964 as an assistant professor of chemistry, later advancing to professor, head of the Division of Science, and eventually, vice president for academic affairs. In 1994, he became Truman’s 13th president, leading with distinction.
His career included numerous leadership roles in higher education, including president of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges and chair of the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education Committee on Transfer and Articulation. He also served on the Board of Trustees for The Higher Learning Commission and as president of the Truman State University Foundation Board.
Dr. Magruder’s academic accomplishments were equally impressive. He earned a master’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa, a doctorate from the University of Northern Colorado, and completed graduate work at Louisiana State University and Harvard University’s Institute of Educational Management. In 2002, he received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from ATSU’s Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Before becoming ATSU’s president, Dr. Magruder was a member of our Board of Trustees, bringing his visionary leadership and commitment to education to our University. During his tenure as president, Dr. Magruder was instrumental in the founding of ATSU’s Missouri School of Dentistry & Oral Health.
Dr. Magruder will be deeply missed by colleagues, students, alumni, and friends. His legacy of dedication and service to ATSU and higher education will endure through the lives he touched.
On behalf of the entire ATSU family, we extend our heartfelt condolences to the Magruder family and his many friends during this difficult time.
Yours in service,
Craig M. Phelps, DO, ’84
A.T. Still University’s Mesa, Arizona, campus celebrated Diwali, the festival of light, on Friday, Nov. 1, when students, staff, and faculty came together to share snacks and sweets and learn different forms of art, including a dance performance.
“It is a celebration of the victory of good over evil,” Dr. Venkatesh said. “During Diwali, people decorate their homes, buy and wear new beautiful clothes, light oil lamps, feast on delicious snacks and sweets, and burst firecrackers. At ATSU, we celebrated it with fun, food, colors, laughter, and dance!”
ATSU’s Mesa, Arizona, campus hosted the ACOOG for a variety of informative sessions as part of their annual meeting, which Dr. Hubka was attending. In between sessions, Dr. Hubka took the time to participate in a Q&A lunch session with ATSU-SOMA students.
When asked to give a single piece of advice to first-year students, Dr. Hubka said, “Engage in your college. And when I say engage, you’ve got great faculty, you’ve got great leadership, you’ve got each other, and really dig into that. That’s your community; that’s the group of individuals that will help you through. Get involved in your clubs, get involved with the student government. This is your home. This is your base, your foundation.
“You chose this university. You chose osteopathic medicine. Now get the most out of it that you can. You have four years,” she added. “Every step of the way, live it, breathe it, be it.”
Local middle and high school students from historically underrepresented groups visited ATSU’s Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health (ATSU-ASDOH), where they experienced a day in the life of a dentist and learned about the pathway to dental school.
Throughout the day, students were mentored by practicing dentists and dental students, participating in hands-on training filling cavities and engaging in interactive discussions on dental anatomy and oral health. At lunch, students participated in a Q&A session with current students and dentists, and at the end of the day, were honored in their own white coat ceremony.
“Open your minds to all of the opportunity and excitement that’s in front of you,” said Clinton Normore, MBA, chief diversity officer, ATSU, addressing the students at the start of the day. “The beauty of the work that these folks do all the time is not just to prepare you for dentistry, it’s to prepare you to get out of high school, to get into college, and to ultimately have success beyond that.”
According to the American Dental Association, around 5% of dentists in the U.S. are Hispanic, fewer than 4% are Black, and less than 1% are Native American. This underrepresentation of minority populations in dentistry leads to inequitable oral health care and bias within the industry.
Diversity in Dentistry is dedicated to strengthening the diversity pipeline from middle school to dental school and diversifying the dental applicant pool with qualified and competitive candidates.
As an internationally recognized researcher in the field of concussion, Dr. McLeod will be joining NATA President A.J. Duffy III, MS, ATC, PT, to discuss sport-related concussions, her recent research, and her career in mitigating and managing injury in the youth sports setting.
The Instagram Live will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 13, from 11:00-11:30 a.m. CST on NATA’s Instagram page.
A message from our University library director, Hal Bright:
Elevate Your Research: Embrace Open Access Publishing Open Access publishing offers significant advantages for researchers. By making your work freely available, you can increase its visibility, impact, and discoverability. This leads to more citations and greater influence within your field. Additionally, Open Access promotes equitable access to knowledge, ensuring that your research benefits a wider audience.
ATSU Library provides two primary methods to support Open Access publishing:
Transformational Subscription Agreements: Transformational agreements allow you to both access journal content and publish your research Open Access in select journals from Wiley, Cambridge, and Springer Nature via the library’s subscriptions. The library subscription covers the Article Processing Charges (APCs) for eligible articles, eliminating out-of-pocket costs for you. While not all journals are covered, many prominent titles, such as Journal of Clinical Periodontology and British Dental Journal, are included.
ATSU Institutional Repository (Still ScholarWorks): Our institutional repository allows you to self-archive your research, including articles, posters, datasets, and more. This ensures the long-term preservation of your work and enhances its discoverability through search engines.
First organized in 2015 by ATSU-ASHS alumna Lisa Bell, AuD, ’16, after Dr. Bell received a grant from the National Student Academy of Audiology (SAA), E.A.R. Day brings together Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing children, along with their parents and friends, to enjoy a fun-filled day of games, activities, and educational sessions. Parents were provided with opportunities to learn more about hearing protection, communication strategies, local resources, and more.
This year’s event was organized by E.A.R. Day committee members Jenna Vekariya, ’26; Lauren Hawkes, ’26; and Alyssa Richards, ’27. Approximately 60 ATSU students from different residential programs volunteered, along with 10 ATSU faculty members.
Held as part of an alumni weekend celebration hosted by the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine Alumni Association, the event welcomed medical alumni back to campus, in addition to bestowing special honors upon Dr. Danielsen’s 1974 class.
After graduating, Dr. Danielsen spent five years practicing family medicine in Kearns, Utah, before relocating to Arizona, where he expanded his expertise to family medicine, cardiology, emergency medicine, and allergy and asthma, before transitioning into academia in 1994.
Throughout his career, Dr. Danielsen has made significant contributions as a clinician, PA educator, author, and editor. He earned a bachelor’s degree in health science from the University of Utah in 1978, followed by a master’s degree in physician assistant studies from the University of Nebraska in 1997, focusing on internal medicine. In 2003, he completed his PhD in interdisciplinary arts and sciences at the Union Institute & University.
Dr. Danielsen has been a pivotal figure at ATSU since 1995, holding various positions, including PA academic coordinator, chair of the physician assistant studies department, dean of the ATSU-ASHS, director of the DMSc program since 2018, and director of the ATSU Center for the Future of the Health Professions.
Dr. Danielsen is a retired lieutenant colonel, having served 28 years in the U.S. Air Force and Army National Guard, and has been a peer reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) for the past 15 years. With over twenty peer-reviewed articles, twenty journal editorials, and three book chapters, Dr. Danielsen is also the co-author of The Preceptor’s Handbook for Supervising Physician Assistants, published by Jones & Bartlett Learning. Additionally, he is a senior consultant with the Academy for Academic Leadership and an active member of Rotary International.
Dr. Danielsen with Don and Cathy Pedersen, both former commencement speakers at ATSU and honorary degree recipients.
Organized by Ivonne Maldonado de La Rosa, PhD, MS, CCC-SLP, assistant professor, ATSU-ASHS SLP, and Mai-Ly Duong, DMD, MPH, MEd, ’12, associate professor, ATSU-ASDOH, alongside ATSU’s chapter of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA), this interprofessional collaboration offered students a valuable opportunity to work together and promote oral health education.
Photo by Kazhra Angelique Kalcho, SLP, ’25.
Over two days, two groups of students performed a total of 68 oral cancer screenings. Both groups consisted of students from various program cohorts, enhancing the collaborative learning experience.
ATSU-SLP faculty, including María Centeno-Vázquez, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-S, associate professor and program director, and Darrell Dern, SLPD, CCC-SLP, director of clinical education and assistant professor, along with ATSU-ASDOH faculty Ann Eshenaur Spolarich, RDH, PhD, FSCDH, assistant dean for research, Marc Shlossman, DDS, MS, associate professor, and Heather Johnson, RDH, MEd, director and instructor of Dentistry in the Community, supported the event by providing goodie bags for participants.
Photo by Kazhra Angelique Kalcho, SLP, ’25.
“The event highlighted the strength of our interprofessional education efforts and was a wonderful demonstration of teamwork in promoting public health and early detection,” Dr. Maldonado de La Rosa said.
ATSU Arizona Campus Library Updates
We’re pleased to announce several recent enhancements to our library:
New Staff Member: Our library has welcomed a new member, Laura Barkema, who has joined us as the Liaison and Communications Librarian. Laura brings a wealth of experience from her previous roles at the Boston Public Library and is eager to contribute to our library community.
Study Space Improvements: We’ve made several improvements to our study spaces to create a more conducive learning environment. Inspirational posters have been added to the walls to motivate students, and a reading treadmill has been installed in one of our larger study rooms. To use the treadmill, simply reserve the study room in advance.
Resumption of 3D Printing: We’re excited to announce the return of 3D printers to the AZ campus. Come and watch the 3D printers in action. We are ready to continue assisting students and faculty with their projects. To request a 3D print, simply submit your design through our online portal. We also offer resin printing capabilities for faculty members, though there is a fee associated with this service.
Student Wellness Fair: Library staff participated in the Student Wellness Fair this October where we showcased our various library resources that promote wellness, including treadmill desks, yoga ball chairs, puzzles, coloring books, and access to Libby.
ATSU California Campus Library Updates
Work Study: Our library is in the process of hiring work-study students for the October 2024-June 2025 fiscal year.
Study Space Improvements: Dean Sauers converted three rooms to study spaces, complete with two wall-hung white boards, which can accommodate up to 3-4 students and can be reserved within the “Reserve a Study Room” page.
Expansion of physical text collection: We’re excited to announce the development of the Diversity Collection as well as the expansion of physical textbook offerings. There is one copy of every text book listed on the CCPA Didactic courses syllabi available for reserve check-out.
We hope these updates will enhance your library experience and support our students’ and faculty’s learning and research. If you have any questions or require assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact Hal Bright (hbright@atsu.edu) in Arizona or Dot Winslow (dorothywinslow@atsu.edu) in California.
