Eastern Florida Professor Awarded EFSC Foundation Endowment

Dr. Kristin Schroeder, who helped develop and leads EFSC's Physical Therapist Assistant program, has been named the Vance Endowed Faculty Chair in Health Sciences, an honor that recognizes outstanding faculty who demonstrate teaching excellence.

The award includes an annual $7,500 stipend for three years, with $2,500 of each year's award funding a project designed by Schroeder called the Health Science Showcase, in which current health science students will be instructing various techniques that are important for interdisciplinary care.

"We are hoping that this approach will provide a teaching opportunity for our current students, a learning opportunity for our prospective students, and a chance to show our community how we teach the importance of teamwork to prepare future clinicians for our local healthcare industry," said Schroeder.

The endowment is named in honor of Dr. Isabel Vance and her husband John Vance who created several student scholarships in his wife's memory when she died in 1991 after serving at the college as a professor of medical arts. John Vance also donated his home to the Foundation through planned giving to help fund the endowed chair.

Schroeder joined EFSC in 2014 and helps prepare students to work as assistants to a supervising physical therapist.

A licensed physical therapist herself, she earned a Bachelor of Health Science in Rehabilitation Services from the University of Florida and her Doctorate of Physical Therapy from the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences.

“When I found out that I had been honored with the Vance Endowed Faculty Chair Award, I was truly humbled," she said. "Knowing that other people can see my vision becoming a reality is very exciting.”

The EFSC Foundation is now accepting applications for a general Endowed Faculty Chair, open to full-time EFSC faculty members in all academic disciplines who have completed at least five years of continuous service.

The deadline for initial eligibility applications is Feb. 3, with completed portfolios from those accepted to apply due by Mar. 9.

The Endowed Faculty Chair Program recognizes EFSC's commitment to attract and retain outstanding faculty, with honorees recognized among their peers, throughout the institution and the community as leaders in college instruction.

For more information, contact Tonya Cherry at the EFSC Foundation at cherryt@easternflorida.edu or (321) 433-7055.