MU | Features
( Continued from page 14 )
schools . I visited both schools and got into both , but Manchester just gave me a really nice vibe . It was just a gut feeling when I visited , and I was ‘ Yeah , I could see myself here .’”
Lots of people have . From a program that began as two stand-alone undergraduate courses , Manchester now offers a two-year Master of Athletic Training program and , as an addition to that , an accelerated 3 + 2 program that allows students to obtain both an undergraduate degree in exercise science and fitness and an MAT degree in five years instead of the customary six .
The MAT program has been in place since 2010 and accredited since 2012 , and , since it ’ s an entry-level program that admits qualified students regardless of where they obtained their undergraduate degrees , it ’ s attracted high-end students to MU from Giorgi ’ s Sonoma State in California to Illinois- Chicago and Wisconsin-Green Bay in the Midwest to Old Dominion in Virginia .
“ Quite frankly , I ’ m amazed at the breadth of the institutions from which we ’ ve been able to attract students ,” says Dr . Mark Huntington , program director for graduate athletic training and dean for Natural and Health Sciences . “ So they ’ re attracted because we have a good track record , and they ’ re attracted because it ’ s a smaller institution . And there are not many entrylevel master ’ s programs .”
( Continued on page 20 )
Profile
T his is why he sat in those Manchester University classrooms all those years ago , a wrestler from Huntington who got hurt and then ached to learn how to make the hurt go away .
This – this night , in this month of October , under these brightest of lights – is why Michael Salazar ’ 98 rode all those buses in lonely outposts such as Mahoning Valley , Pa ., and Columbus , Ohio , put in those 10 years in the minors , climbed the ladder just like any baseball player who yearns to get to the big leagues .
Now here he was .
The night was Nov . 2 , 2016 . The place was Progressive Field in Cleveland . And Salazar – not a player but a 41-yearold assistant athletic trainer with the Cleveland Indians – looked around and soaked it in as only a man in the maelstrom of Game 7 of the World Series should .
MU Master of Athletic Training faculty members ( from left ) Jeff Beer , associate professor and program director for undergraduate athletic training ; Ryan Hedstrom ’ 00 , associate professor of sport management ; Erin Foreman , assistant professor of exercise and sport science ; Mark Huntington ’ 76 , dean , professor and program director , Master of Athletic Training ; Zach Dougal , associate professor of exercise science and athletic training ; and Jim Brumbaugh-Smith ’ 84 , associate professor of mathematics and computer science .
“ This is what we work for ,” says Salazar , remembering the night the Indians almost did it , losing 8-7 to the Chicago Cubs in that Game 7 . “ That ’ s the reason I wanted to be in professional baseball , is to win a World Series and to be able to apply everything I ’ ve learned .
18 |