Welcome to the School of Allied Health Professions newspaper, The LINKS. I am so pleased you are visiting our website. We are very proud of our School, its academic programs, faculty, students, and alumni, and would like to share information about them with you.

Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Allied Health Professions has an outstanding faculty, many of whom have earned national and international reputations for excellence in teaching, research, and scholarship. The School of Allied Health Professions has consistently received high rankings for its academic and research programs. In fact, we now have a program that is ranked number one in the country. The programs that are ranked by the US News and World Report are: Nurse Anesthesia (1), Health Administration (5), Occupational Therapy (15), Rehabilitation Counseling (20), and Physical Therapy (25). Because of our excellent reputation, health care institutions and educational programs heavily recruit graduates of the programs, and many of our alumni hold leadership roles across the nation and abroad.

Faculty research productivity and external funding increased this past year by six-fold. This is very exciting for us as we are now moving forward with a deliberate, thoughtful program to enhance our research productivity as spelled out in our Strategic Plan.

We are delighted with our success in recruiting highly qualified faculty and students, and look forward to their respective contributions to the teaching, research, and service mission of the School. Advancement of the School through concentrated development activities is a major challenge for the upcoming year. Over the years, through generous gifts from our alumni and friends, considerable progress has been made in enhancing our students' teaching/learning environment.

The upcoming year brings new excitement and challenges to the School of Allied Health Professions. We hope you will join in our endeavors to achieve the goals set forth for 2005-2006, and continue to support the School's commitment to excellence in teaching, research, scholarship, and service.