Sanders Recipient of APTA’s Award for Leadership in Education

By Ryan Clark
CHS Communications Director

Congratulations go out to alumna Barbara Sanders, PT, PhD, FAPTA, who in late February received the Award for Leadership in Education from the American Physical Therapy Association’s Academy of Education.

Sanders received her BHS in Physical Therapy from the College of Health Sciences in 1972 and is also a member of the College’s Hall of Fame.

In the above photo, another CHS alumna, Chalee Engelhard, PT, EdD (BHS in Physical Therapy from UK in 1990) presented Sanders with the award. Engelhard is also the current president of APTA Academy of Education.

“As a long-time educator and member of the Academy of Education, it is heartwarming to be recognized by your peers with this recognition,” Sanders said. “So many of us are in education because we want to pay it forward, not for the recognition, however, it is much appreciated!  Thank you to Scott Ward, Nancy Reese, Merrill Landers, and Susie Deusinger for the nomination!”

Originally from Boone County, Ky., Sanders went on in 1991 to complete her PhD in Educational Leadership at the University of Texas in Austin. For more than three decades she served as a professor and Chair of the Department of Physical Therapy at Texas State University.

Prior to Texas State, she was faculty at University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse and the University of Kentucky. Sanders is one of the first PTs to become a Board-Certified Sports Specialist.

She was an active member of the American Physical Therapy Association, serving in leadership positions at the local, chapter, section, and national levels. She was a two-term President of the Texas Physical Therapy Association as well as Chief Delegate; two-term President of American Council of Academic Physical Therapy, and Vice-Chair of the Texas Board of Physical Therapy Examiner. Her clinical practice has been in Kentucky, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Texas; in acute care, rehabilitation, home health, long-term care, outpatient orthopaedics and sports.

In previous interviews, she has credited her success to her PT education.

“Without my PT education and the mentorship, friendship and colleagues from Kentucky, I would not have accomplished what I have in my career,” she told Gateway magazine in 2013.

Congratulations, again, to Dr. Sanders.