The President’s medal is an award that recognizes a HAPS member who has provided exemplary service to HAPS. The recipient of the award is chosen by the current HAPS President and is announced at the Annual General Membership Meeting. Terry Thompson explains below why she chose Carol Veil as the 2017 President’s Medal recipient.
I had the pleasure of presenting this year’s medal to Carol Veil in Salt Lake City. Because the choice is kept secret, I first shared a “hint” with the audience in the form of a special chocolate Oscar-like statue. I think most everyone in the room got the hint, except Carol. In true humility, as she was dutifully taking minutes from the Annual Membership meeting, Carol looked up and thought, “Gee, there must be someone else here that likes chocolate as much as I do”.
Carol served on the Steering Committee as chair of the Curriculum & Instruction Committee from 2005 to 2009. During that time she coordinated 35 faculty from 18 different states to develop the HAPS Anatomy & Physiology Learning Outcomes, which continues to be one of our organization’s most valuable members resources. The Learning Outcomes are used by faculty to develop and assess their courses, by publishers to organize textbooks, and by the HAPS Testing Committee to write questions for the HAPS Exam. The coordination and organization of this major project is even more amazing when we think back to the limited technology that was available at that time for collaboration only by email attachments and multiple versions of documents.
In her 19 years as a HAPS member, Carol has given individual and team workshops at 20 annual conferences and at 5 regional conferences, often presenting some of both at the same conference. Many of us have gleaned new teaching tips and strategies from the various workshops presented in partnership with Javni Mody, such as the popular Awesome Analogies or Mnifty Mnemonics, as well as learned so much about the physiology of chocoholics from a connoisseur. She also served on conference planning committees for the 2009 Baltimore Annual conference and two regional conferences. Carol also involved her students in the pilot study for the A&P 1 only version of the HAPS Exam.
Most recently, Carol was elected to the Board of Directors as Secretary for two terms since 2013, serving with four HAPS presidents. As a result, she played a role in the initial development and the mid-term review of the HAPS 2014 – 2019 Strategic Plan that provides the great vision and process to lead HAPS successfully into the future. Carol was chosen for this award based on her work in these many roles as she ends her term as HAPS secretary and retires from Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) near Annapolis, MD. She has already committed to continuing her involvement with HAPS with initial plans for a team workshop in Columbus OH and agreeing to serve as Chair-in-Training under Don Kelly as the next co-chair of the Foundation Oversight committee for Grants and Scholarships.
It was my honor to present Carol with this well-deserved recognition and we all look forward to her continued HAPS contributions as a retired emerita member.