Sargent Faculty and Staff Honored for Service, Teaching Excellence
Congratulations to the 2024 recipients of the Whitney R. Powers Award for Teaching Excellence, Staff Award of Merit, and the Faculty Award of Merit.
Staff Award of Merit
Katherine (KC) Barnes, Clinical Sites Manager
The Staff Award of Merit honors a Sargent staff member who has demonstrated professional excellence and made a positive impact on programs, faculty, students, and/or alumni.
In her role in Sargent’s Clinical Education Office, Barnes provides support to Sargent College undergraduate and graduate students during their clinical experiences. She directly supports the health science, human physiology, and occupational therapy departments in communications with sites, engaging with clinical partners, and communicating with students. She facilitates the onboarding of students across multiple programs for their varied clinical experiences including, but not limited to: background checks, drug screenings, PPE fit testing, and attestations.
In her award nomination, it was noted that “Throughout her tenure at Sargent College, she has established herself as an invaluable and reliable asset within the Clinical Education Services office. Yet, her impact transcends those boundaries, as KC has consistently stepped up to support various program and college initiatives. Her meticulous attention to details, strong organization skills, and creative problem solving is indispensable in the clinical education environment.”
Faculty Award of Merit
Joan Salge Blake, Clinical Professor, Nutrition
The Faculty Award of Merit honors a Sargent faculty member who has made impactful service contributions benefiting programs, faculty, students, and/or alumni of Sargent College.
Salge Blake is the nutrition program director, a registered dietitian, and host of the Spot On! podcast as well as a regular media contributor. Her areas of expertise include healthy eating, weight management, and obesity, and she strives to make nutrition science easily understood by the general public via her website, blog, and many media interviews. Among her many accolades, in 2009, Salge Blake earned the Annie Galbraith Outstanding Dietitian award from the Massachusetts Dietetic Association, and she has previously been honored with the Whitney Powers Award for Teaching Excellence in 2019 and 2001.
In her award nomination, Salge Blake was praised as an excellent clinician, teacher, and mentor: “It is rare to find a person who consistently inspires you to be the best version of yourself. These are the people who challenge us to always work at a level above – to reach further, dig deeper, and dream bigger. Joan is one of those people. She is unwavering in her devotion to her students, and she is one of the most talented, intelligent, and inspiring people I have ever met.”
Whitney R. Powers Award for Teaching Excellence
Lisa Roberts, Lecturer, Health Sciences
Recognizing an outstanding teacher from the Sargent faculty, this award is named in honor of Whitney R. Powers, professor emeritus of BU Sargent College, who for more than 25 years shared his gifts as an outstanding teacher.
In her award nomination, students spoke about her excitement, creativity, and inclusive classroom environment. Her colleagues noted that Roberts “consistently receives glowing accolades on her teaching evaluations, indicative of her exceptional instructional abilities. Her adeptness in elucidating intricate anatomical concepts coupled with her unwavering commitment to fostering an inclusive classroom community environment truly sets her apart as an outstanding educator, and an outstanding match for this teaching award.”