|
Putting
the Spin on Service
 In
his busy life, Don Healy (PhD ’92) blurs
the lines between teaching, research and service.
Healy, an associate professor of special education at Western
Illinois University, said much of the research he does as a
professor has a “service spin.”
He is currently the project director for “Connections
to Success,” a program that focuses on meeting the needs
of English language learners at risk for academic failure at
three schools in Moline. Connections to Success is in its final
year of a four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education
Office of Special Education Programs.
Professor Sharon Maroney, a colleague at Western Illinois University,
said that sometimes she can’t believe the schedule Healy
keeps.
“ I just don’t know how he gets it all done in a
day. He’s very giving and concerned about his teaching.
He’s a very productive researcher, and he does a great
deal for the community,” she said. “He will donate
his time and expertise to whoever needs it.”
But Healy said he never tires of doing service-type work.
“ I feel strongly about quality-of-life issues with persons
with disabilities,” he said. “I purposely choose
many of my volunteer activities along those lines.”
Healy said he’s inspired to do service work by a man he
calls his “baby brother.” Healy’s brother,
Tom, is 42 and has Downs Syndrome. Healy is Tom’s legal
guardian after the deaths of their parents.
Because of Tom’s influence in his life, Healy volunteers
for The Rock Island Association for Retarded Citizens, Special
Persons Encounter Christ, and the Special Olympics.
Joan Wrath has known Healy as a fellow volunteer with the Special
Olympics and SPEC for about 21 years. Searching for a word to
describe him, she came up with several. “He is upbeat,
refreshing, inspiring, enthusiastic, grateful, full of energy,
encouraging, and persistent,” she said. “He is just
a wonderful and awesome person to be around. “
Wrath said one thing she respects about Healy is his willingness
to contribute however he can.
“ Don is always willing to do more work above and beyond
our committee meetings,” she said. “He contacts
fellow colleagues, makes phone calls, and encourages and recruits
his college students as volunteers.”
Healy’s students log about 1,000 hours of service work
each year.
“ I see it as a real win-win situation for myself, my
brother, my students, and everyone involved,” he said.
“It’s amazing what you can get done by sweetening
the pot with extra credit points.”
Healy said the influence of his professors at The University
of Iowa helped him become a professor who can show students
the importance of their volunteer and professional work.
“ I think I can help these busy and well-intentioned people
understand how to look at things with a larger perspective,”
he said.
“ I can teach them to accept the fact that there are some
things in the field of special education that will be sources
of stress, but that the essence of what they are doing is extremely
important.” – by Heather McElvain
| "If
someone listens, or stretches out a hand, or whispers
a kind word of encouragement, or attempts to understand
a lonely person, extraordinary things begin to happen."
Loretta Girzartis |
|
