Celebrating excellence CCRHS SALUTES DISTINGUISHED ALUMNA, HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

The East Tennessee State University College of Clinical and Rehabilitative Health Sciences recognized its 2021 Distinguished Alumna and Hall of Fame inductees on Thursday, May 19, 2022.

Dr. Tiffany A. Love, who earned her bachelor’s degree in education and Master of Social Work degree from ETSU, is the college’s Distinguished Alumna. Love is an internationally known prison reform and social justice activist and inspirational speaker. Among the several ministries she has founded is Beauty Behind Bars, which helps women and girls break away from the “mental incarceration and selfimprisonment” resulting from life choices and decisions.

The five alumni inducted into the College’s Hall of Fame were:

• Danielle Garland – This pediatric speech-language pathologist works at Niswonger Children’s Hospital in acute care with medically fragile infants and children and is Vice President of the Tennessee Association for Audiologists and SpeechLanguage Pathologists. In addition, she works in editing, marketing, and design for The Informed SLP, which reviews and summarizes the field’s newest research every month to help clinicians stay informed to achieve better outcomes with their clients.

• Karen A. Gibbs – Gibbs graduated from ETSU with a degree in health education and administration before the university established its physical therapy program. She became a physical therapist and is known for establishing wound care as an area of practice in the field of physical therapy. Today she is a professor of physical therapy at Texas State University and president of the national specialty group in electrotherapy and wound care physical therapy.

• Judith A. Johnson – Johnson is recognized as an ardent, longtime supporter of early intervention and of the ETSU Speech and Language Clinic. She is a dedicated community worker and organizer for services for children with developmental delays, especially those in low-income communities. She is retired from the Tennessee Early Intervention System, which provides services to children from birth to age 3 who have disabilities or other developmental delays.

• Kimberly Ann Osucha – The late Osucha was a 2014 graduate of ETSU’s Doctor of Audiology program. Her own single-sided deafness was her motivation for going into audiology. As a student, she was recognized for outstanding academic achievement, attaining a 3.93 GPA in a rigorous and demanding clinical doctoral program. In her short career, Osucha worked at VAMCs in New York and North Carolina before she passed away in May 2020.

• Lisa Vaughn Tipton – Tipton has 25 years of social work and leadership experience, working with various community partners to better the lives of women, children, and families throughout East Tennessee. She is executive director of Families Free, a nonprofit, faithoriented, and community-based organization that works to build better communities in Northeast Tennessee. This organization provides treatment, education, and intervention services to women and families affected by substance abuse, incarceration, and domestic instability.