As of March 1, 2007 Brian Van Slyke, VR Counselor, resigned his position with the VR service program in order to pursue his further career education and be closer to his immediate family residing in upper state New York, his home state.
March 21, 2007 was Julie McGowan's last day as Administrative Assistant for the VR program. Julie has gotten a clerical position with the State of CT and we wish her good luck with her new position. She will be missed.
There were some changes in VR and Research personnel during the summer of 2006, the biggest being the resignation of Valerie Ellien as Director of the MPTN-VR service program and as Principal Investigator for the NIDRR Research project. Dr. Ellien resigned her positions in order to better facilitate the move of her and her husband, Charles, to their retirement home in Surprise, Arizona, and her last official day as Director and PI was July 7, 2006.
Although Dr. Ellien's experience and expertise will be missed, she had no qualms whatsoever about the fate of the service program and research project in the wake of her departure, as stated in her farewell message to the members of the VR-Research Advisory Council:
"An important element in my decision to leave is the fact that I have a highly capable staff that is ready to take over and grow our projects. As you know, both of our projects are capacity building in nature and intended to attract Native Americans to the field of Vocational Rehabilitation. I am very happy to say that Silvermoon Mars will take over the Vocational Rehabilitation Service program as Program Manager. And Felicia Wilkins-Turner will take over as Principal Investigator on the Research Project. As before, both projects will report under Beth Thomas, and Shanna Alexander, Director of MPTN Tribal Health Services."
The staff of the service program and research project wishes Valerie and Charles the very best—good-bye and good luck, Valerie & Charles!
