Dr. Debbie Ingram, UC Foundation Professor of Physical Therapy and the Director of Clinical Education, will deliver the summer commencement address to approximately 375 graduates on Sunday, August 9 at 2 p.m. in the McKenzie Arena.
During this academic year, Dr. Debbie Ingram will celebrate 20 years teaching at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She was one of the five original faculty members hired to develop the physical therapy program. As the director of clinical education, she works with 300 clinical sites across the country while the 90 doctoral students in the program participate in their clinical internships. Ingram’s primary teaching responsibilities include graduate courses in management, education and communication. She has given more than 50 presentations at national physical therapy conferences.
Her commitments have included national and local roles:
- President of the University of Tennessee Alumni Association
(First faculty member and first physical therapist to serve in this role representing the 325,000 alumni of the UT campuses) - Chairman of Annual Giving for the UT Alumni Association
- Member of University of Tennessee Development Council
- Member of UTC Alumni Board
- Vice President of the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (the national organization of licensing boards)
- Chairman of Clinical Education for the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA)
- Member of Board of Directors & Government Affairs Liaison for Education Section of APTA
- Chairman of Tennessee Board of Occupational & Physical Therapy Examiners
- Member of Board of Directors of Tennessee Physical Therapy Association and recipient of Carol Likens Award for Outstanding Professional Service
- Vice President of Chattanooga Ballet Board of Directors
- President of UTC’s Sigma Kappa Sorority Advisory and Corporation Boards
Before teaching at UTC, Ingram was the Director of Rehabilitation Services at Erlanger Medical Center, a Level 1 trauma center.
Ingram holds the B.S. degree in physical therapy from Georgia State University in Atlanta (1979), the M.Ed. in special education from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (1984), and the Ed.D. in leadership studies from the University of Tennessee Knoxville (1994). She was honored as the UT outstanding graduate for educational leadership after completing her doctoral work.
Ingram and her husband, David, are originally from Cleveland and now reside in Ooltewah. They are the parents of a UTK student, Alex. In this role, the Ingrams have recently accepted a joint appointment to the UT Parents Association Board of Directors.
UPDATE: Watch the summer 2009 commencement online.
