SNU’s School of Professional and Graduate Studies Welcomes Two New Hires
SNU’s College of Professional and Graduate Studies welcomes two new board-approved hires. Dr. Shawn Pendley will serve as a Dissertation Director for the Doctorate of Education in Administration and Leadership program. Dr. Shalyn Hooten will serve as the Title III Clinical Education Coordinator for SNU’s developing Physical Therapist Assistant Program.
Dr. Pendley grew up in the Oklahoma City area and met his wife, Sherry, in high school. He earned a B.A. in Classical Studies, focusing on Ancient Greek language and history, at the University of Oklahoma. After a brief flirtation with screenwriting in Austin, Texas, he and his wife moved back to Oklahoma, where he completed a Ph.D. in the History of Education while working as a high school English teacher. He has been an educator for 13 years and loves to write and ponder in his spare time.
Pendley said, “I’m thrilled to be here at SNU. I’ve had a love for the university since attending a couple of summer basketball camps here as a teenager. I tell everyone I meet—yesterday, a Starbucks barista—that I’m on the faculty at SNU. It’s a dream job.”
After living on campus for four years as an undergraduate kinesiology student at SNU, Dr. Hooten began her Doctor of Physical Therapy Degree and graduated in May of 2016. Before joining the SNU family, she worked with patients at an outpatient physical therapy clinic. She continues to treat patients in the clinic for a few hours a week. Dr. Hooten specializes in orthopedic and manual physical therapy and has been an active member of the APTA and OPTA since 2016. She also enjoyed being a clinical instructor for several students over the last five years. Dr. Hooten loves spending time with her husband and daughter, traveling, and shopping.
“As an SNU graduate, I am excited to be back on campus with the awesome opportunity of helping students in the field of physical therapy.”
Graduation from a physical therapist assistant education program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE), 3030 Potomac Ave., Suite 100 Alexandria, VA 22305-3085; phone; 703-706-3245; accreditation@apta.org is necessary for eligibility to sit for the licensure examination, which is required in all states.
Southern Nazarene University is seeking accreditation of a new physical therapist assistant education program from CAPTE. The program is planning to submit an Application for Candidacy, which is the formal application required in the pre-accreditation stage, on June 1, 2022. Submission of this document does not assure that the program will be granted Candidate for Accreditation status. Achievement of Candidate for Accreditation status is required prior to implementation of the technical phase of the program; therefore, no students may be enrolled in PTA technical courses until Candidate for Accreditation status has been achieved. Further, though achievement of Candidate for Accreditation status signifies satisfactory progress toward accreditation, it does not assure that the program will be granted accreditation.