16th Annual Pauline Cerasoli Lecture Life Lessons: Teaching for Learning That Lasts

Abstract

In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of which has passed and the first ofthat which comes.Leonardo Da VinciIt is with great humility and trepidation that I stand before this audience of physical therapy educators today. I can only hope to fulfill the promise and meet the expectation associated with the honor of presenting the Polly Cerasoli lecture for 2013.I was never fortunate enough to count Polly as a close personal or professional friend and colleague, but I have read and heard much about her accomplishments and characteristics over the years. As I read tributes about Polly, most notably those shared by her colleagues Bette Ann Harris1 and Colleen Kigin,2 it was clear that Polly was an esteemed educator and leader who possessed many characteristics that Colleen and Bette Ann referred to as the 5 Cs: (1) she was committed to others, her profession, and to her ongoing learning and development; (2) she was caring and considerate-these were key elements of her mentoring and leadership style; (3) she was collaborative and adept at building teams; (4) she was comfortable with change, albeit not without some nervousness, wisely recognizing that change is never easy for most; and (5) she was comfortable with herself-with who she was and the paths she was following. That's a tall order! I most certainly do not posses all of those characteristics, but I'm honored to be a recipient of this lectureship in her memory. If we strive to share some of Polly's attributes, we will all be better for it.Let me say a few words, however, about my interactions with Polly over the years. As a novice physical therapist educator, I was able to observe and admire Polly's contributions and commitment to the profession during my first decade of learning to be a physical therapy faculty member, and as I began to engage in a variety of activities in our professional organization and the Education Section. Then, in the early 1990s, a few years before the brutal attack in 1996 that changed her life-and ours-forever, I got to meet Polly more personally when she came to Central Michigan University as a CAPTE candidacy reviewer. Of course, this was a high stakes visit-one that can engender uncertainty if not full-blown anxiety. And there she was: tiny Polly with her red hair and infectious smile, full of energy, enthusiasm-clearly committed to the advancement of physical therapy education and the development of future practitioners, supportive of our efforts, and full of excellent consultative insights and recommendations, borne of experience, which proved to be immensely valuable on our path to initial accreditation. Thank you, Polly.In preparing for this lecture, which I always look forward to at every CSM, I read through the previous Cerasoli lectures, most of which I had the privilege of listening to with eagerness-always leaving with new inspiration. So many previous lecturers are individuals whom I have admired and respected over the years; they have been exemplars of excellence and extremely important role models to me as I sought to craft my identity as physical therapist, educator, and as a person. As I read the wise words of those that have gone before, the immediate metaphor that came to mind was that of standing on the shoulders of giants-as in the canopy of a beautiful stand of Aspen trees-but the height invoked by that image made me very uncomfortable. Thus, my next image was that of a little mushroom pushing up through the rich loam below towering trees that have dropped their leaves for the season, only to enrich the soil and foster new growth in the spring.So that is the starting point for my lecture. I do want to take a moment to thank the individuals who nominated me for this recognition. I was most honored and surprised to learn that they were former students: Thank you to Don Straube and Keir Ringquist who initiated the nomination, and thanks also to my friends and colleagues who wrote letters of support for the nomination. …