Excellence is Our Middle Name

First up is visual confirmation that Mark Hawkins did in fact wear the PSU Trackl Alumni Singlet in his scintillating 5K run at the Great Race in Pittsburgh last weekend.  His 17:19 finish impresses everyone except him as he strives for even more.  (The answer may be orange shoes, Mark, orange shoes!)




Dr. Robert Hillman presented a talk on Speech Pathology as part of the PSU Distinguished Speakers Series on campus last weekend.  Dr. Hillman is a PSU Track/XC alum, former captain and roommate of Olympian Greg Fredericks back in Coach Groves' early tenure.  Whenever Greg has respect for someone, I, for one, take notice.  Greg has told me that chances of getting Dr. Hillman to come to the golf outing are low, as he is as dedicated to his work as anyone any of us knows.  I salute him, and still invite him to our reunion in May 2012, where I will personally put out the red carpet.  Dr. Hillman presents the finest example of the character building influence that PSU Track/XC instills in all of us.  Here's a little bit about Dr. Hillman's work...

Robert E. Hillman ’74, ’75 SPA

Robert E. Hillman, research director of the Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation at Massachusetts General Hospital, is widely recognized as one of the foremost clinical voice scientists in the world. His research has produced new tech­nologies, including an ambulatory monitoring and biofeedback system for treating voice disorders (featured on the National Geographic Channel show "The Incredible Human Machine") and the first voice neural prosthesis for laryngectomy patients (featured in Newsweek magazine). He currently is helping to lead a large multi-insti­tutional research effort to develop bio-implants that will restore voice and speech to patients whose vocal cords are damaged by trauma or disease.

Hillman also serves as an associate professor of surgery and health sciences and technology at Harvard-MIT and a professor of communication sciences and disorders and associate provost for research at Massachusetts General Hospi­tal Institute of Health Professions. He has won numerous professional awards for his research publications and accomplishments, is a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and is one of only six speech pathologists inducted into the American Laryngological Association. He received Penn State's Alumni Fellow Award in 2008 and will be awarded the Honors of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, that organization's highest award, at its annual meeting later this year.

Hillman received bachelor's and master's degrees in speech pathology and audiology from Penn State. While there, he was co-captain of the cross-country team and the re­cipient of the 1974 Ernest B. McCoy Award for the outstanding senior scholar-athlete. He also received a doctoral degree in speech science from Purdue University.

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