School of Health Professions celebrates contributions of Dean David Shelledy as he retires

After leading the School of Health Professions for 12 years, Dean David Shelledy, PhD, RRT, RPFT, FAARC, FASAHP, is retiring.

Bridgett Piernik-Yoder, PhD, OTR, FAOTA, will serve as interim dean effective Sept. 1. Piernik-Yoder currently serves as vice dean for academic and faculty affairs and professor with tenure in the Department of Occupational Therapy. She previously served as associate dean for academic affairs and has led the Department of Occupational Therapy as chair and program director since 2018. 

A career of service and leadership in health professions

Shelledy is a past president of the American Association for Respiratory Care and has served as a director for the Association of Schools of Advancing Health Professions and a commissioner for the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs and for the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care. 

His service to the school — then called the School of Allied Health Sciences — began when he served as founding chair of the Department of Respiratory Care from 1994 to 2004. At his retirement celebration held Aug. 27, Shelledy reflected on his first day in that role. He started with a desk, a telephone, a phonebook and a computer, but had no faculty, staff or students. 

“From that humble beginning, a world-class, nationally recognized program was built,” with the help of talented faculty and staff, he told those gathered in Holly Auditorium foyer.

In his comments during the reception, Francisco Cigarroa, MD, senior executive vice president for health affairs and health system at The University of Texas at San Antonio, outlined the highlights of Shelledy’s career and his legacy of leadership and mentorship. He joked that Shelledy was forgiven for leaving the health science center for a decade to serve other universities, including Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, where he was dean of the College of Health Sciences for seven years. Shelledy returned to the School of Health Professions as dean in 2014. Under his leadership, the school more than doubled enrollment, added new academic degrees and programs, and increased research expenditures.

But numbers tell only part of the story of Shelledy’s contributions, Cigarroa said.

“The true measure of David’s impact is found in people: in the students whose futures were shaped by programs that he helped build, the facilities and the staff whose talents he encouraged to reach their full potential, the leaders he mentored, and the patients whose lives were touched by the health professionals educated through the school,” he said.

A national search for a permanent dean for the school, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, is underway.