The School of Health Sciences and Human Performance has opened a new campus at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, marking the first step in a collaboration that will draw upon the respective strengths and histories of the two institutions. Located on the CRCDS campus on South Goodman Street in Rochester, the site will primarily house Ithaca’s physical therapy program, though additional partnerships are in the works.
“Ithaca College, and most specifically our physical therapy program, has enjoyed a meaningful presence in Rochester for many years now,” said Ithaca College President Peggy R. Williams at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “The clinical/practical experience we provide our students is essential to their professional preparation. We are so pleased today to begin a new, exciting chapter in Rochester and look forward to a long, fruitful partnership with everyone at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School.”
“We’re delighted to celebrate this new facility and to welcome Ithaca College students and faculty to our campus,” said Eugene C. Bay, president of CRCDS. “We deeply appreciate Ithaca College’s investment in the campus and in Rochester, and we look forward to exploring more ways that we can work together to enhance the ability of all of our students to learn to be leaders in the realms of physical and spiritual healing.”
About 75 students and seven full-time, permanent physical therapy faculty members will call the new campus home. They had previously been located in facilities leased from the University of Rochester; the Ithaca programs will continue to be academically and clinically affiliated with the University of Rochester and Strong Memorial Hospital.
“There is a growing appreciation of the significance of the spiritual dimensions of health care,” said Steve Siconolfi, dean of the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance (HSHP). “This partnership with CRCDS not only provides for the long-term needs of our physical therapy program, but also gives us a platform for facilitating additional academic collaborations throughout the two institutions.
The School of HSHP will occupy approximately 15,000 square feet and will share an additional 10,000 square feet with the divinity school. The new facilities include physical therapy teaching laboratories, state-of-the-art motion analysis laboratories, and a lecture hall, with wireless computing access and distance learning capabilities.
In the above photo, Siconolfi shows off one of the teaching tools in the new lab to Williams and Bay as they tour the campus.
“In addition to physical therapy, students in our occupational therapy program and those conducting student teaching in health education and physical education in the Rochester area will be able to operate from this campus,” said Siconolfi. “With our new academic partner, we will also explore the possibility of collaborating on such programs as a Master of Social Work degree.
The School of HSHP is celebrating its 75th Diamond Jubilee during the 2006–7 academic year. An important component of the school has been the Department of Physical Therapy, which for more than a half century has been preparing students to serve in the roles of practitioner, manager, consultant, clinical educator, and scholar in a variety of health-care settings. One of the first programs in the nation to award a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy, it now offers a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree for incoming freshmen. Students spend the summer prior to their junior year and conduct all of their graduate study at the Rochester campus.
Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, founded in 1817 and a presence in Rochester since 1850, is a graduate professional school conferring Master of Divinity, Master of Arts and Doctor of Ministry degrees. Current enrollment is 138 students representing many denominations, including Baptist, United Methodist, Presbyterian and United Church of Christ.
CRDCDS includes among its alumni Martin Luther King Jr., esteemed civil rights leader; Major General Lorraine Potter, retired chief of the United States Air Force Chaplain Service; James A. Forbes Jr., senior minister of Riverside Church in New York City; Marjorie Matthews, United Methodist bishop, the first woman to be elected bishop in any denomination; and Howard Thurman, inspirational writer and civil rights pioneer. Former faculty member Walter Rauschenbusch is renowned worldwide as the “Father of the Social Gospel.”
