Although the middle of the desert might not sound like the most exciting college setting, A.T. Still University (ATSU) in Mesa, AZ proves that assumption wrong. In addition to the 300 days of sunshine that come courtesy of being entrenched in the Valley of the Sun, the area offers a beautiful landscape for outdoor activities like hiking and camping, as well as proximity to landmarks like the Grand Canyon and the Four Corners.

And, despite its desert environment, the school isn't isolated in the middle of nowhere-Mesa is a dynamic urban destination with a population that actually trumps better known city locations, such as Miami and St. Louis. As a result, the school has the best of both worlds-a stunning natural setting and a lively cityscape.

"Arizona is definitely a place with plenty of sunshine, and I do think it's a big draw for individuals who like outdoor activities," says Tabitha Parent-Buck, AuD, associate professor and chair of ATSU's audiology department. "There are so many activities to do in the area; it's a very diverse city. We have great shopping and dining, theater and the symphony, and sports venues with easy access to both Scottsdale and Phoenix."

ATSU was originally founded in 1892 as Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (Kirksville, MO), the founding school of osteopathic medicine. In 1995, the school branched out to develop the Arizona School of Health Sciences (ASHS), expanding its curriculum to include other health profession programs, such as physical therapy, occupational therapy and, beginning in 1999, audiology.

Whole Person Healthcare

After the addition of ASHS and a 2001 move to the 132-acre Health & Technology Park in Mesa, ATSU continued to expand, adding the School of Health Management, the Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health and the School of Osteopathic Medicine Arizona. All in all, five schools in two states coalesce to make up ATSU, a university whose sole purpose is professional education in the healthcare arena.

"It makes a nice home for audiology to be in a school that only offers healthcare education," Dr. Parent-Buck says. "Our students get to be educated with and interact with other healthcare professionals who will become their colleagues in the real world, and it's a very close-knit and supportive environment for healthcare education."

This concentrated focus on health professions is complimented by the university's idea of "whole person healthcare," an integrated approach that includes treating the body, mind and spirit of the patient. "Our history as a health professions institution is rooted in the osteopathic history of whole person care. For us this means not just looking at an ear, not just thinking about a hearing aid, but looking at the entire person, the family dynamics, and what's going on with each patient." Dr. Parent-Buck says. "I think the institution's history and focus makes us somewhat unique."

AuD Program

ATSU's AuD Program admitted its first residential students in 2002, 2 years after rolling out an online transitional degree program. Since that time, it's been hard to argue with the results--the program has a 94 percent completion rate, and 100 percent of graduates passed the Praxis exam (90 percent on the first try) and found employment after graduation.

The 4-year residential program is 213 quarter hour credits, and students get into clinical rotations during their first quarter on campus. The program starts out with a very strong didactic core, and clinic hours gradually increase each year, from 4-hour, to 8-hour, to 20-hour, and finally to full-time, 40-hour per week rotations in the fourth year.

Despite its stepped clinical rotation program, ATSU does not have an audiology clinic on campus; students gain wide-ranging experience in the school's audiology laboratories, but the bulk of hands-on experience comes courtesy of the school's numerous clinical affiliation agreements, both locally and nationally. Some might look at this as a drawback, but, according to Dr. Parent-Buck, the school's extensive network of clinics allows for a great deal of variety that will make students extremely well-rounded and ultimately aid in the selection of specific practice interests.

"When students get to the fourth year, they may stay at one location two or more quarters in a row, but during the first three years, they're rotating to a different clinic every quarter, so they're going to be exposed to patient care in hospitals, schools, private practices, and more," she says. "We believe it's very important to have that diversity. This results in students having exposure to the variety of clinical areas, including types of settings, types of patients and types of procedures, to make some decisions about what they're going to want to do in the future. Secondly, this requires the students to increase their skills and speed to be effective and comfortable with the pace in various clinical settings."

Students are required to stay in Arizona during their first 2.5 years of class, but, during the last 1.5 years, they are encouraged to leave the valley to get exposures in rotations throughout the country, which Dr. Parent-Buck says can "open more opportunities to pursue some things that might not be as readily available close by."

Two clinical coordinators take responsibility for placing students in their clinical rotations, even the students who travel out of state. These students give input into the process and can direct the coordinators toward a specific area of the country and an area of practice, but the coordinators arrange each placement, maintain close contact with students and monitor each student's progress with their preceptors.

Focused Education

ATSU has an overall enrollment of 3,461 students, over half of whom (1,801) are students in the ASHS programs. The residential AuD program comprises a small part of that--with an average class size of 10 students, there are roughly 40 students in the program. This makes for intimate student interaction and a small 8:1 faculty-to-student ratio that results in a family-like support network, according to Dr. Parent-Buck.

"I think that's very important," she says. "Students become part of our family in this building over 4 years, and even when they are in their clinical rotations, we still keep in touch with them. I think they need that support to make it through some of the challenges of moving from undergraduate to graduate education and becoming a professional."

The fact that the audiology program is its own entity, not a part of bigger department like communication disorders or hearing sciences, allows for even more focused education, with all departmental resources directed toward AuD students.

"It has been rewarding to develop and grow an audiology department with only audiology to focus on," Dr. Parent-Buck said. "Our faculty, our resources and our efforts all go toward educating our AuD students, so they have our full attention. They have access to us with a very open door policy and our support when they need it-even for things like getting on our student blogs to find a new roommate when they need it because something has gone wrong or discussing where they might want to go for rotations in the future because they're not sure. They have very strong support from our faculty and Student Services group, which I'm not sure exists at every university."

Strong Alumni Network

Although the residential program is small, enrollment in ATSU's transitional distance program for master's level audiologists is significant. Dr. Parent-Buck says that during its peak, the program had over 600 students and that it currently has 400 to 500. The program has led to an extensive alumni network, which can open doors and opportunities for ATSU's residential students throughout the country.

"Since starting the program in 2000, we have graduated over 2,000 practicing audiologists in the transitional program, so we have a large network of audiologists out there who are loyal and very tied to our university as alumni," Dr. Parent-Buck says. "They actually call and e-mail frequently looking for fourth year students and for graduates, so we have a broad network of practices to draw on for fourth year rotations and for career placement options."

Contact Frank Visco at fvisco@advanceweb.com