Faculty - All Schools

Elisa Giaquinto received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Brenau University in Gainesville Georgia and her Master of Science in nursing from Georgia State University with a specialization in gerontology. In addition, Elisa studied social gerontology at Georgia State University and received a Certificate of Graduate Study in gerontology. While working as a clinical nurse specialist in gerontology, Elisa designed and directed an acute care medical unit for elders on Cape Cod, created a gerontology nurse resource program for acute care nurses, organized community based wellness clinics for seniors in residential retirement communities, designed and led an inpatient unit for community based elders with dementias, and helped a variety of hospitals in Georgia, Massachusetts and Rhode Island to create patterns of care delivery systems for frail acutely ill elders.

Elisa returned to school to explore the role of cultural values and systems of belief in the formation of health policy and their role in the structure of community life for older people. She earned a Master of Arts in anthropology from Brown University and continued on with doctoral studies where she examined the everyday life of older people and the relationships between social institutions, rural community life, social integration and independence in central Italy.
Elisa’s research interests continue to involve community institutions and their relationship to health and independence through the life course and specifically as they affect the lived experience of old age. Currently she is conducting ethnographic research in rural Nova Scotia.

Elisa has taught nursing, sociology, anthropology for Regis College, Lasell College and Pine Manor College in Massachusetts before joining Husson University and moving to Bangor Maine in the fall of 2011. She also has a home in Southwest Nova Scotia where she is active in the Gerontology Association of Nova Scotia and in her local community. She is an avid photographer and plein air painter.

Cathi received her BSN from the University of Connecticut and her MSN in Oncology Nursing from Rush University in Chicago, IL. She has practiced for 26 years in the areas of medical oncology, bone marrow transplant, home infusion, pediatrics and home health and hospice. She recently received her certification as a Hospice and Palliative Care Nurse and is a Home Health/Hospitce nurse and teaches orientation classes for CHCS.

I’ve worked at Husson as adjunct faculty in the past and I am very excited to have accepted a part time faculty position in Nursing. I live on the Maine coast with my husband and 2 daughters. I am very active in social justice activities and I hike, bicycle, cross-country ski, and read for enjoyment.

Suzanne received her physical therapy education at University of Missouri (Columbia) a Masters of Arts in College Teaching at University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill, and a Doctorate in Higher Education Leadership at the University of Maine (Orono). She is a pediatric physical therapist and has worked many years with children with physical disabilities. Dr. Gordon conducts research into educational and leadership processes within physical therapy programs and postsecondary education. She has a number of peer-reviewed publications and presentations in these areas.

How does a student get off to a good start in college? By being involved in the campus community! Whether your decision to become a physical therapist reflects your interest in sports, or your fascination with how the body moves, or your commitment to helping others, the Husson Physical Therapy Program offers you the opportunity to engage in that interest while also supporting you in becoming a well-rounded individual. We encourage all of our students to Get Involved!

Suzanne Gordon

Suzanne conducts research into educational processes within physical therapy programs focusing on multicultural education and the assessment of cultural competency for program outcomes assessment. She has also established a record of qualitative research examining the discourses of higher education leadership.

Recent Publications

* Allan, E., Gordon, S., & Iverson, S. (2006). Re/thinking practices of power: The discursive framing of leadership. The Chronicle of Higher Education. The Review of Higher Education, 29(5).
* Gordon, S. (2005). Making meaning of whiteness: a pedagogical approach for multicultural education. Journal of Physical Therapy Education, 19(1), 21-28.
* Gordon, S.P., Iverson, S.V., & Allan, E.J. (2009). Chapter 5: The discursive framing of women leaders in higher education.  In E.J. Allan, S.V. Iverson, & B. Ropers-Huilman (Eds.) Re/constructing Policy in Higher Education: Feminist Poststructural Perspectives and Policy Analysis. New York: Routledge.
* Gordon, S.P. (2013). Bridging the differences of diversity: Communicating in the borderlands, Chapter 6.  In L. Hack and J. Gwyer (Eds.) Evidence into Practice: Integrating Judgment, Values, and Research. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Company.
* Morren, K.K., Gordon, S.P., & Sawyer, B.A. (Winter 2008). The relationship between clinical instructor characteristics and students perceptions of clinical instructor effectiveness. Journal of Physical Therapy Education: 22(3), 52-63.
 
Recent Presentations



* Gordon, S. Embracing multicultural frameworks: Exploring perceptions of physical therapist educators who teach for multiculturalism. Presented at the APTA's Combined Sections Meeting, Boston, MA, February, 2007.
* Gordon, S., Blaisdell, C., Blois, A., Funk, L., Niles, C., & Weymouth, L. Cultural competence: Measuring program outcomes of physical therapist students. Presented at the APTA's Combined Sections Meeting, Boston, MA, February, 2007.
* Gordon, S., & Morren, K. An emergent mission: Examining the use of focus groups to support a culture of assessment. Presented at the APTA's Combined Sections Meeting, New Orleans, LA, February, 2005.
* Gordon, S., Morren, K., & Olson, P. The effectiveness of qualitative research in assessing program outcomes. Presented at the APTA's Combined Sections Meeting, New Orleans, LA, February, 2005.
* Allan, E., Gordon, S., & Iverson, S. Re/thinking practices of power: The discursive framing of leadership. Presented at the American Education Research Association, Montreal, April, 2005.
* Iverson, S.V., Gordon, S.P., & Allan, E.J. (April, 2007). The discursive framing of women and leadership in "The Chronicle of Higher Education.". Presented as part of a symposium, Glass ceilings and sticky floors: Women and advancement in higher education, at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Education Research Association, Chicago.
* Iverson, S.V., Allan, E.J., & Gordon, S.P. (November 18-20, 2010). The discursive framing of women and leadership in "The Chronicle of Higher Education".  Paper presented at the 2010 ASHE (Association for the Study of Higher Education) Conference, Indianapolis.
* Gordon, S.P., Leavitt, R., & Sharby, N. (February 9, 2008). Educational model for developing multiculturalism and social justice advocacy. Invited 1.5 hour presentation as part of Current topics in multiculturalism and global health for faculty, clinicians, and students presentation supported by the Health Policy & Administration Section, 2008 APTA Combined Sections Meeting conference, Nashville.
* Gordon, S.P., Fein, B., Leavitt, R., & Sharby, N. (June 12, 2008). Educational model for developing multiculturalism and social justice advocacy. A 3.0 hour presentation presented at the 2008 APTA Annual Conference and Exposition, San Antonio.
* Gordon, S.P., & Morren, K. (February 9, 2012). Identities and practices of the exemplary clinical instructor: developing a theory of expertise.  Platform presentation at the APTA 2012 Combined Sections Meeting, Chicago.

With a Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma in English, where Stephanie taught for the past fifteen years before coming to Maine, Stephanie teaches writing and literature courses, specializing in women's literature, American literature, and theory. Her dissertation centers on the notion that Willa Cather, in her own fin de siecle conservatism, is actually a radical critic of American consumer culture. With an affinity for virtually all periods of literature, Stephanie's favorite is the period in America from Emerson to the 1930s, including expatriate women writers, and the so-called regionalist writers like Maine's own Sarah Orne Jewett of the late nineteenth century. She is also partial to the British Romantics, especially William Blake, and to George Eliot, as well as to the British Modernists.

My favorite thing in teaching is introducing students to the idea that their own ideas actually have a history, and that many of the same contradictions in the culture today have been present in American culture since our beginnings. Many of the ideas Emerson or Whitman were wrestling with are still with us. I also continue to teach writing, not only in composition courses, but in all my courses. In my opinion, good writing and close reading are the most valuable skills students acquires in college life since they enable students to become critical thinkers about their own lives, and about the world around them and the information presented to them from that world.

Cliff Guthrie received his B.A. from Duke University, his M.Div. from Candler School of Theology, and his Ph.D. from Emory University. He taught for fifteen years in theological education at Emory University and Bangor Theological Seminary, during which time he published many books and articles in practical theology. In 2007 he joined the faculty at Husson University where he teaches and writes in the fields of ethics, philosophy, and religion and coordinates the philosophy area of the School of Science and Humanities and the annual Husson Symposium on Ethics and the Sacred. His most recent publication is for the journal Ethics and Behavior entitled, “Smart Technology and the Moral Life.”

I think we are witnessing what E.O. Wilson calls "Consilience" -- the bringing together of human knowledge made possible by new research in the human sciences, the breakdown of walls between academic disciplines, and the growing possibilities for collaboration and exchange via technology. As a teacher, I push students to take advantage of these new directions in the flow of information so that they become players in the times in which we live. This means helping them become active learners, people who practice habits of paying attention to the world, taking intellectual risks, and accepting responsibility for the challenges that face us. To my mind, teaching is the human art of drawing out our finest ideas and abilities, which we too often find frightening and hide. I often remember Maine's own Oscar Remick, a beloved philosophy professor and college administrator who, when asked, "And what do you teach, Professor?" replied simply, "Why students, of course."