Physical Therapy | North Central College

Erin McElheny

Erin McElheny earned her bachelor’s degree at North Central College and completed her doctor of physical therapy (D.P.T.) degree at Midwestern University in Downers Grove, IL. She’s a physical therapist at TheraCORE in Lockport.

As an undergraduate at North Central, Erin learned the importance of good communication skills.

“Having those skills gave me an edge when it came to the interview process for physical therapy school,” Erin says. “Establishing rapport with people is a skill that someone working in the healthcare industry should master.”

During her senior year at North Central, Erin worked in physical therapy clinics and completed independent study courses that met prerequisites for admission to graduate school.

“The classes in North Central’s curriculum really prepared me for the classes I took in graduate school,” she says. “The smaller class sizes at North Central allowed me to get to know my professors and my classmates.”

Majors Minors and Programs : Pre-Physical Therapy

Sawyer and students present posters at psychology conference

Thomas Sawyer, professor of psychology, collaborated with three students and an alumna to give presentations at Midwestern Psychological Association meeting.

Thomas Sawyer, professor of psychology, collaborated with three students and a recent alumna to deliver poster presentations during the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association in Chicago, May 5-7. One presentation, titled “Facial Masculinity Effects on Personality Judgments,” included biochemistry major and psychology minor Monica Bienias '11 and psychology graduate Isabel Decian ’10, as co-authors. Collaboration with psychology majors

New offerings for science majors

Recent developments signal the College’s ongoing commitment to its science curriculum and career preparation with an eye toward construction of a new science center on campus.

Students will be able to pursue degrees in additional areas of study beginning fall 2011. They can complete a new major in the field of chemical microscopy, which involves the use of microscopes to solve chemical problems. Minors will be offered in bioinformatics—the application of statistics and computer sciences to the field of molecular biology—and neuroscience, the study of the nervous system.

Record number of students to present at national research conference

A record 38 students from various academic areas will represent North Central at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research this spring.

Contact: Nancy Dunker, associate director of public relations, 630-637-5306

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (Jan. 31, 2011)—For the second year, a record number of North Central College students have been chosen to participate in the nation’s leading conference on undergraduate research.