Jan 29, 2015Questioning Multiple Hats
“This topic stemmed from personal experience in being split between the academic unit and the athletic department,” Wilkinson says. “When you’re fulfilling dual roles, you’re being pulled in several directions and answering to multiple people–it becomes a difficult juggling act.
“Within the past year, I was completing my doctorate degree and decided to research this area for my dissertation,” he continues. “So we’ll talk about some of my findings and hopefully this will be a starting point for brainstorming within the profession.”
Along with discussing some of the challenges faced by athletic trainers with dual appointments as instructors and clinicians, Wilkinson will discuss how other professions have navigated similar hurdles. “Funding is an obvious challenge,” he says. “So we’ll talk about how to implement some support and structure for those who may be in dual-role appointments in order to give them a chance to be successful in both positions.
“We should consider this discussion a starting point,” Wilkinson continues. “Looking ahead, we’ll want to consider what types of research should happen next and how to find the best approach for academic programs deploying personnel in terms of workload. Considering how the quality of instruction is impacted with dual appointments, we’re only scratching the surface on where future athletic programs may go if instructors are given an opportunity to be fully engaged in their position.”
