Report to the Community - Samuel Merritt University

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faculty are regularly published in peer-reviewed journals
and books, many more are invited to serve on national
boards or professional committees, and a growing number
have been awarded grants and other professional honors.
research accomplishments by smu faculty are numerous.
the university has begun to emphasize the important
role of faculty scholarship by including research as one
of the 20 dashboard indicators of overall institutional
performance. scholarly production is clearly increasing.
over the last four years, measures of scholarly productivity
have increased over 200 percent. there was minimal grant
activity among faculty eight years ago. since that time, the
university has received an excess of nine million dollars
in externally funded research and program development
grants. the smu research agenda reflects a diversity of
topics important to
national health issues,
notably in the areas
of multiple sclerosis
(ms), brain trauma
and rehabilitation,
hiv, genetics,
and multicultural
and disadvantaged
populations.
samuel merritt
university is especially
proud of the research by physical therapy professor, gail
widener, phd, pt. her continuing research on Movement
Ability Changes with Bland-Based Torso-Weighting in
Multiple Sclerosis was recognized by the national institutes
of health (nih), awarding dr. widener a grant of $339,146
in fall 2010. dr. widener and her research partner at