Manchester is moving Master of Athletic Training Program to Fort Wayne

Manchester University’s Master of Athletic Training (MAT) Program is packing up its bags and will take residence next fall at our Fort Wayne, Ind., campus.

This move from the North Manchester campus allows us to offer more opportunities to MAT students:

• There is great potential to expand clinical opportunities. Venues in which athletic trainers are integral members – high schools, colleges and universities, pro sports, sports medicine clinics, hospitals, military and industrial settings – are all plentiful in Fort Wayne.
• The Fort Wayne campus, 10627 Diebold Road, is already the hub of Manchester’s graduate-level professional health science programs: the doctoral program in pharmacy and master’s program in pharmacogenomics. All three can share resources and specialized teaching spaces. Adjacent to campus, Parkview Health Systems offers partnership opportunities that include access to state-of-the-art simulation equipment.
• Fort Wayne, Indiana’s second largest city, offers a broad variety of apartments and rental homes, employment opportunities for spouses of students and a vibrant cultural and entertainment atmosphere.
• Dynamic modifications to the curriculum will create more immersive experiences didactically and clinically.

In addition to our traditional two-year master’s program, the Athletic Training 3 + 2, five-year dual program leading to a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science and Fitness, and a Master of Athletic Training degree will continue, with the first three years at the North Manchester campus and the final two years at the Fort Wayne campus.

While the geography of the MAT program will change, the value proposition remains true to Manchester’s core strengths – small class sizes affording plenty of personal attention from highly trained, skilled faculty.

What makes running more fun?  Donuts, of course.

With a goal of community engagement and team building, exercise science and athletic training students participated this summer in MU’s second annual Donut Run. The event is a fun run/walk in which students walk a half mile, eat six glazed donuts from a local Dunkin’ Donuts® outlet, then return another half mile to the starting point. Participants are only as competitive as they choose to be, and the event proved to be fun for all.

We teach the art and science of taping

This year, the Manchester University Exercise Science and Athletic Training (ESAT) Department will host its second annual KT Taping course on the North Manchester campus, March 30-31. This will be a KT1 & KT2 course, which is the first course leading to Certified Kinesio Taping Practitioner (CKTP) certification. If interested please contact Jeff Beer for more information at jabeer@manchester.edu.

PT students find success at the next level

ESAT students who choose a pre-physical therapy track show continued success with applying to professional post-graduate programs. Three students have already been accepted in doctorate of physical therapy programs for next fall:

• Adri Millican – Trine University (has made commitment)
• Caroline Smith – University of Indianapolis
• Drake Dewitt – University of Indianapolis 

We’re knocking down walls to make room

Growth often requires space and, as the second largest major on campus, Exercise Science and Fitness is finding creative ways to expand for its needs. Most recently, a wall was removed between two PERC classrooms to make room for a new and improved human performance lab. Add in newly purchased equipment, and students have additional room to work and learn, while the ESAT Department increases its potential for program growth.

Back on the Sidelines

by Jeff Beer

It has been a few years since I have been on the sidelines. It was a great day when I was asked to cover a home football game with some of the best athletic training students. Our students are so great to work with and it was a joy to be by their side for this event.

We shared fun and games until the game started and our students were point blank ready for action. It was like watching a well-oiled machine working as all six worked together to make a great environment for our student athletes. Head Athletic Trainer Erin Foreman has these students doing the right thing, working together and functioning as a unit. She has done an amazing job with these students, but as you already know, it’s not hard with our students. They make us look pretty good at the end of the day.



This year, I’d also like to try to get Dr. Mark Huntington back on the field, one way or another. Students love and respect him, and I hope he knows how much the faculty care for him as a friend and colleague.  We all wish he was covering events on the sidelines again!   – Jeff

That’s Erin in the dinosaur suit

Erin Foreman has a made a reputation for unpredictability around Halloween time, and she didn’t disappoint this year when she brought the cast of Toy Story (our athletic training students) to campus for a visit. Coworkers say they wonder how Erin gets anything done as a blow-up T-Rex.

Students compete at IATA 2018

MU students had posters accepted for presentation at the Annual Business Meeting and Clinical Symposium of the Indiana Athletic Trainers Association (IATA), Nov. 11, 2018. The hard work and mentoring that allows them to be successful at this level set MU students apart, while offering invaluable experience and opportunities to network with professionals in the field. This year’s submissions included:

• Mikayla Patterson – A case study on a collegiate football player with paralabral cysts with compression of the subclavian artery
• Rachel Roths and Kendra Borton – Infection of DIP joint in the second digit from a mismanaged hangnail in a collegiate football player: A case study
• Sydney Thompson and Beth Schaefer – A case presentation on a collegiate football player with a fractured patella: The importance of proper diagnosis

Manchester was also represented by the team of Kendra Borton, Landon Bridges and Rachel Roths, competing in the quiz bowl.

Patterson wins scholarship award

Senior Mikayla Patterson (Athletic Training Student) was awarded the Dwayne Dixon Professional Education Scholarship by the Indiana Athletic Trainers Association on Nov. 11. Read more here.

Fitness and Recreation students get additional training opportunities

A $5000 grant secured with the help of the Office of Career and Professional Development to continue professional development and student engagement has enabled the purchase of new KAATSU Blood Flow Restriction units, making possible additional training and research opportunities for students in the fitness and recreation concentration.

Watch for news in our sprint newsletter regarding Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) exam results for our fitness and recreation students.

Join us at GLATA

The Great Lakes Athletic Trainers’ Association (GLATA) 50th Annual Meeting and Symposium will be held in Wheeling, Ill., March 15, 2019, and again this year Manchester will host an alumni reunion at the RAM Restaurant & Brewery at 700 N. Milwaukee Ave., in Wheeling. The event yielded a great group last year, and we look forward to growing this tradition. Watch for more details to come by email and social media!

Sports medicine goes to Europe

January session is upon us, and our International Sports Medicine course is venturing to new countries, this year to Greece and Italy. Fourteen students plan to take the two-week trip this year, led by Jeff Beer. The educational journey includes tours and site seeing, including an Athens food tour.

There’s an easy way to support our students

Many student opportunities are made possible through generous gifts from our alumni and friends. The University has recently launched a new crowdfunding platform that allows them to donate to causes they believe in, at whatever amount they are able. It’s a way for various entities at MU, such as the Department of Exercise and Athletic Training, to reach their supporters directly and allow them the opportunity to help our students succeed in their chosen fields.

You can help ESAT students with a gift here.

Meet the newest member of the ESAT family

Introducing Lucas Dargo, assistant professor of exercise science and athletic training and clinical education coordinator. Lucas earned a bachelor’s degree from Ball State University in 2013, a Master of Science in Athletic Training from Ohio University in 2014, and a Doctorate in Athletic Training from Indiana State University in 2018. His education and training is matched by an intense energy and drive to teach and mentor students in the Master of Athletic Training program. Lucas will work on the Fort Wayne campus full time when the MAT program relocates there in the fall.

As we welcome Lucas to Manchester, we also wish good luck to Zach Dougal, who resigned as clinical education coordinator this fall.