In 1963, Bill Connell was focused on making his Wingate basketball team one of the hardest to score on in the nation. He wasn’t worried about how he’d be judged decades later. Ron Christopher was a rookie baseball coach in charge of players not much younger than himself. Hundreds of wins and multiple halls of fame? Not exactly top of mind. Each ultimately wound up with impressive legacies, having cultivated coaching trees that have been surprisingly fertile. These days, much of Wingate University’s legacy is wrapped up in the health sciences, starting with the groundbreaking pharmacy program started by Bob Supernaw and leading to occupation therapy, which gets going this year under the direction of Melissa Sweetman. In this issue, find out more about the mark Wingate has made on the world.
Dr. Robert Supernaw was presented with a blank slate in the early 2000s and created a highly successful pharmacy school. Now on the cusp of retirement, he can look back with a sense of pride at what the school, and the University, has become.
Takayhlia "TK" Cornish is nothing if not determined. The strong-willed recent Wingate graduate enhanced her natural smarts with a drive to succeed that has led her to medical school this fall.
Dr. Melissa Sweetman has spent the past two years designing and implementing a Doctor of Occupational Therapy program at Wingate. Now she's finally ready to start training new OTs.
Garrett Kendall spent a few years as an athletic trainer before returning to Wingate to get his physical therapy degree
Dr. Karen Friel plans major curricular changes and a focus on community service over the next few years.
Thanks to Wingate's Biology Department and her own perfectionist tendencies, Shana Hayes nears dream of earning physician assistant degree.