EDUCATION & TRAINING FACULTY BIOGRAPHIES AND CONTACT INFORMATION

Course Directors

Dr. Rory A. Cooper

RORY A. COOPER, PhD
Distinguished Professor, FISA/PVA Chair, Department of Rehabilitation and Technology, University of Pittsburgh 
Director, Human Engineering Research Laboratories
VA Rehabilitation Research and Development Center of Excellence fore Wheelchairs and Associated Rehabilitation Engineering
Pittsburgh, PA

Contact Information
Human Engineering Research Laboratories
VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System
6425 Penn Avenue, Suite 400
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
(412) 822-3700
rcooper@pitt.edu 

Rory A. Cooper, PhD received the BS and MEng degrees in electrical engineering for California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in 1985 and 1986, respectively. He received the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering with a concentration in bioengineering from University of California at Santa Barbara in 1989. He is FISA & Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) Chair and Distinguished Professor of the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology, and professor of Bioengineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physical Medicine & Rehab, and Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Cooper is Founding Director and VA Senior Research Career Scientist of the VA Rehabilitation Research and Development Center of Excellence in Pittsburgh. He is also the Co-Director of the NSF Quality of Life Technology Engineering Research Center, a joint effort between the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.

He is the Editor of the journal Assistive Technology and the AT Research Book Series of IOS Press. Dr. Cooper serves or has served on the editorial boards of several prominent peer-reviewed journals in the fields of rehabilitation and bioengineering. He has received multiple prestigious awards to include the Olin Teague Award, Paul Magnuson Award, U.S. Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, James Peters Award, Maxwell J. Schleifer Award,DaVinci Lifetime Achievement Award, Veteran’s Leadership Program Veteran of the Year, and a member of the inaugural class of the Spinal Cord Injury Hall of Fame. Dr. Cooper has authored or co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed journal publications. He has ten patents awarded or pending. Dr. Cooper is the author of two books: Rehabilitation Engineering Applied to Mobility and Manipulation and Wheelchair Selection and Configuration, and co-editor of An Introduction to Rehabilitation Engineering, Care of the Combat Amputee, and the Warrior Transition Leader Medical Rehabilitation Handbook. Dr. Cooper is an elected Fellow of the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), and the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). Dr. Cooper has been an invited lecturer at many institutions around the world, for example the National Academies of Sciences Distinctive Voices Lecture, and was awarded Honorary Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Xi’an Jiatong University. He has also been elected to Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi honorary societies.   

Dr. Cooper is a former President of RESNA, and a member of the RESNA/ANSI and ISO Wheelchair Standards Committees, and IEEE-EMBS Medical Device Standards Committee. In 1988, he was a bronze medalist in the Paralympic Games, Seoul, Republic of Korea. He was on the steering committee for the 1996 Paralympic Scientific Congress held in Atlanta, GA, and the Sports Scientist for the 2008 U.S. Paralympic Team in Beijing, China. In 2009, Dr. Cooper was featured on a Cheerios cereal box for his many achievements. He has been a member of theU.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – Medicare Advisory Committee, Steering Committee of the Academy of PM&R on Research Capacity Building. and Chair of the National Advisory Board on Medical Rehabilitation Research, National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, and National Academy of Sciences Keck Foundation Initiative on Human Health Span Steering Committee. Dr. Cooper is a U.S. Army veteran with a spinal cord injury and a Director of the Paralyzed Veterans of America Research Foundation. He currently serves as a member of the U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Prosthetics & Special Disability Programs Advisory Committee, U.S. Department of Defense Health Board Subcommittee on Amputation and Orthopedics, and the Board of Directors of Easter Seals. Dr. Cooper has actively collaborated with the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre on increasing access to quality services and devices for people with disabilities in India and throughout developing countries.

COL Paul F. Pasquina

PAUL F. PASQUINA, MD

Colonel (RET), U.S. Army Medical Corps
Residency Director and Chair, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation  
Director, Center for Rehabilitation Sciences Research
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

Contact Information
Center for Rehabilitation Sciences Research
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
8901 Wisconsin Ave.
Bethesda, MD 20889 
Paul.F.Pasquina.mil@health.mil

 

Paul F. Pasquina, M.D. is the Residency Director and Chair, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Director of the Center for Rehabilitation Sciences Research at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.  Dr. Pasquina retired from the United States Army Medical Corps in 2012 as Chief of the Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the Director of the Center for Rehabilitation Sciences Research (CRSR) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS).   He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and USUHS.  In addition to being board certified in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R), he is also board certified in Electrodiagnostic Medicine and Pain Medicine.  He completed a fellowship in sports medicine and remains interested in all aspects of musculoskeletal medicine especially as it applies to individuals with disabilities.  He is the specialty consultant to the Army Surgeon General for Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and a Secretarial appointee on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Advisory Committee for Prosthetics and Special Disabilities Programs.  Dr. Pasquina has authored multiple book chapters, journal articles and policy papers.  He has served as the PM&R Residency Program Director and Medical Advisor to the North Atlantic Regional Medical Command for quality healthcare. He has received multiple military awards, as well as awards for teaching and mentorship, including the U.S. Army’s “A” Proficiency Designation for academic excellence, the Order of Military Medical Merit, and Honorary Fellow of the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA).

Guest Faculty

Nate Bastien

Nathan Bastien, BS
Medical Student
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
nate.bastien@gmail.com

 

 

Nathan Bastien, U.S. Army veteran and current medical student at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, graduated from the University of Pittsburgh (PITT) in 2013.  While at PITT, Nathan participated in the Experiential Learning for Veterans in Assistive Technology and Engineering program (ELeVATE).  As a student at PITT, Nate worked on several engineering design projects at the Human Engineering Research Laboratories, including a special “throwing chair” that will be used by disabled veteran athletes during events such as the National Veterans’ Wheelchair Games. 

Joyce bender

Joyce A. Bender, BS
CEO and President
Joyce A. Bender Consulting Services, Inc.
jbender@benderconsult.com

 

 

 

Joyce A. Bender is the CEO and President of Bender Consulting Services, Inc.  Based in Pittsburgh, PA, Bender Consulting is a national firm that recruits and hires people with disabilities for competitive career opportunities in the public and private sectors, who are trained in the information technology, engineering, finance/accounting, human resources, and general business areas.  In 1985, Joyce survived a life-threatening accident caused by a misdiagnosis of epilepsy.  Due to her personal experience living with both epilepsy and a hearing disability, she founded Bender Consulting Services, Inc. in 1995 and Bender Consulting Services of Canada, Inc. in 2001. 

Joyce is the past-chair of the board of the American Association of People with Disabilities and former chair of the national Epilepsy Foundation.  She is a board member of the Epilepsy Foundation of Western and Central PA, Carlow University, Volunteers of America of Pennsylvania and Variety the Children’s Charity.  She is also a member of the Geneva College Advancement Board. 

Awards received by Joyce Bender include the following: 2013 AAPD Justice for All Corporate Award; 2008 YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh Tribute to Women Award in the Entrepreneur Category; 2008 Pittsburgh Business Times Diamond Award; 2007 Achieva Sattler Humanitarian Award; 2006 Easter Seals Distinguished Service Award; 2005 UCP of Pittsburgh’s Gertrude Labowitz Lifetime Achievement Award; 2003 Bush Administration's New Freedom Initiative Award; and in 1999 President's Award, received from President Clinton at the White House, for her efforts in furthering the employment and empowerment of people with disabilities/

Joyce has been featured in various periodicals including “Reader's Digest”, “New York Times”, “Investor’s Business Daily”, “Pittsburgh Post-Gazette”, and “Chicago Tribune”.  Ms. Bender holds a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from Geneva College, and hosts the weekly radio show, “Disability Matters with Joyce Bender” on www.voiceamerica.com.

Brian Bilski

Maj Brian T. Bilski
Transition Support Cell OIC
USMC, Wounded Warrior Regiment


 

MAJ Brian T. Bilski was commissioned in 1994. After the Basic School in Quantico, VA, he attended primary flight training in Corpus Christi, TX with VT-28 followed by helicopter training in Pensacola, FL with HT-18. In June of 1996 he was assigned to HMLA-267, Camp Pendleton, CA as a qualified UH-1N (Huey) pilot. After successfully completing unit deployment to Okinawa, Japan, MAJ Bilski was assigned to Marine Air Group 39 as the unit’s Communications officer. In 2000, MAJ Bilski volunteered for a secondary MOS as a 0602/Communications officer and attended the Communication Systems Officer School. Following that school, he was assigned to Brigade Service Support Group (BSSG-1), Camp Pendleton, Ca, as the S-6, which included a tour in Iraq for OIF I. 

In 2004 MAJ Bilski joined the Reserves, mobilizing to serve as the Officer in Charge of 4th Recon Battalion in Anchorage, AK. In 2005, he joined Headquarters Marine Corps Intelligence, as the Intel Communications officer. In 2006, MAJ Bilski joined the Active Reserves and was assigned as the Assistant Chief of Staff G-6 for 4th Marine Division, New Orleans, La. In 2009, MAJ Bilski reported to duty as the Director of Careers and Education for USMC Wounded Warrior Regiment (MWWR). He is currently the Transition Support Cell OIC for the MWWR.

MAJ Bilski graduated from Western Michigan University with a B.S. in Aviation Technology. His personal awards include Meritorious Service mend and the Navy & Marine Corps the Navy Commendation medal with Combat “V”.

Ron Drach

Ron Drach
Member, Board of Directors
Wounded Warrior Project
CEO
Drach Consulting, LLC
consultrwd@yahoo.com

 


After a combat wound resulted in the loss of his right leg in Vietnam, Sergeant Ron Drach left the US Army in 1967. The medically retired sergeant soon found a new purpose for his life as he began working to help his fellow disabled veterans, just nine months after his injury.

Following two and a half years with the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Mr. Drach joined the staff of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) in 1970. Starting in DAV’s Pittsburgh office, Mr. Drach rapidly rose to become the organization’s national employment director in 1975. He was the first Vietnam veteran to be appointed to director at DAV. In this post, he established the reputation he maintains today as one of the nation’s foremost authorities on employment issues affecting veterans and others whose lives have been affected by disabilities. 

In 2003, Mr. Drach became a founding board member of Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP). He has been serving on the WWP board of directors ever since and served as board president from 2007 to 2011. Mr. Drach explains his involvement with WWP saying, “It’s just one more opportunity to give back and make a positive impact on the lives of this generation of Wounded Warriors.”

Mr. Drach’s experience and expertise has enabled him to provide significant input into America’s response to the needs of veterans affected by post-traumatic stress disorder, homelessness, racial and gender discrimination, and other socio-economic issues. He became a leading voice on questions involving Social Security disability benefits, as well as efforts to remove barriers that impede the lives and employment of persons with disabilities. Many times throughout his career, Mr. Drach has appeared before congressional committees, offering expertise and recommendations for legislative change.

After leaving DAV, Mr. Drach was employed by the Department of Labor’s Veterans Employment and Training Service (VETS). In 2011, Mr. Drach retired from his extensive career and now works as a consultant.

He lives in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC with his wife, Carolyn, a financial analyst for the Federal Reserve. They have two adult daughters, Tiffany and Amber.

Duane Hardesty

Colonel (Ret.) Duane E. Hardesty, US Army, Retired
Outreach Ambassador, Operation IMPACT Program
Northrop Grumman Corporations
Duane.Hardesty@NGC.com

 

 

Colonel (Ret.) Duane E. Hardesty was commissioned from Idaho State University Army ROTC as an Armor Second Lieutenant in 1967.  Following graduation from the Armor Officer Basic Course, he was assigned to the 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry, Sixth Infantry Division, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he activated the Division’s Cavalry Squadron.    Following his graduation from the Armor Officer Advanced Course, Colonel Hardesty was assigned to Pacific Joint Command where he served as a Joint Staff Action Officer in the J-1 and Aide-de-Camp to the Deputy Commander-in-Chief from 1971-1974.  He was then selected to attend the Army’s graduate program at Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) where he earned a Master’s Degree in Acquisition and Contract Management.  Following graduation he was assigned to the US Army Troop Support Command, St. Louis, Missouri, where he served as a Contracting Officer from 1975-1978; following graduation from the US Army Command and General Staff College, Colonel Hardesty was assigned to the Second Armored Cavalry Regiment in Nuremberg, Germany where he served as the Regiment’s S-4 and Executive Officer, Second Squadron, Bamberg, Germany from 1980-82; He was selected to Command the NATO Training Center, Wildflechen, Germany from 1982-84.  Colonel Hardesty commanded the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, First Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas from 1984-86; following his command, he was reassigned as a senior instructor at the Army’s Combined Arms Services and Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, from 1986-87.  Following his graduation from the US Army War College, Colonel Hardesty was assigned to the Second Armored Division Forward, Garlstadt, Germany where he served as the Division’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations (G-3) and Chief of Staff from 1988-90; he was then reassigned to the 21st Theater Army Area Command where he served as the Inspector General from 1990-92.  He was re-assigned to the Military District of Washington, where he served as the Deputy Commander for Operations from 1992-94; Colonel Hardesty completed his 30-year career as the Commander,1st Brigade, Fourth ROTC Region, Fort Lewis, Washington from 1994-1997.  Colonel Hardesty retired from active service in 1997 after 30 years of service.

In 2002, Colonel Hardesty helped his colleagues develop a special program in Northrop Grumman Corporation called Operation IMPACT: Injured Military Pursuing Assisted Career Transition.  The program is specifically designed to assist our Severely Injured Warriors from OIF/OEF with transition opportunities from military service to a career in Northrop Grumman.  This unique program is recognized as a “Best Practice” in Corporate America and was awarded the President’s Freedom Award by the Secretary of Labor on October 24, 2007.  He has served as the Corporation’s Outreach Ambassador for the Operation IMPACT program since 2006.

Colonel Hardesty is married to the former Janet Goeller of Salem, Oregon.  They currently reside in Steilacoom, Washington.

Robert Hart

Robert C. Hart, MRC
Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (Outreach)
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), VBA Central Office 
Robert.Hart4@va.gov


 

Mr. Robert C. Hart has been a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (Outreach) with Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) Service since October 2011. In this capacity, he provides oversight and guidance of outreach services provided by the VA Veterans Benefits Administration. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Hart worked in the Atlanta VA Regional Office as an Out-base Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor in Columbus, Georgia and the Fort Benning MCOE military installation from 2009 to 2011. Prior to working in the Atlanta Regional Office,

Mr. Hart served as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor at the Pittsburgh VA Regional Office from 2008 to 2009. Mr. Hart served as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor with the State of Georgia’s Department of Rehabilitation Services program from 2001 to 2008 working with a variety of populations including the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Mr. Hart served with Honor as a United States Army Combat Engineer before his Retirement in 1996. After his military retirement, Mr. Hart worked while attending college as a full-time student. He has earned a Master of Rehabilitation Counseling degree from the University of Kentucky and a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences from Columbus State University. Mr. Hart was selected for membership into the Chi Sigma Iota International Honor Society.

He is married to wife Jennifer and the proud parent of daughter, Tia and sons, AJ and Robert.

Mike Hartford

Mike Hartford, MHA
Director, Veterans Division
Zeiders Enterprises, Inc.
MHartford@Zeiders.com

 

Mr. Hartford was selected in October 2013 to be a member of the executive team for Zeiders Enterprises, Inc. 

Zeiders is an Industry leader focusing on Military Family Readiness and Resilience Services, Behavioral Health Counseling, Work-life Education Programs, Employee Learning Programs and Professional Management and Consulting Services.

He previously served as Deputy Director, Reserve Component, Navy Medicine Headquarters, from October 2010 to September 2013. He also served as the Navy Liaison Officer with the Department of Veterans Affairs while mobilized as a Care Manager with Navy Safe Harbor from March 2007 to November 2009. 

He retired from military service as a Medical Service Corps Navy Captain in October 2013.  He has held senior healthcare executive leadership positions in the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and the FL Department of Health. He served as VHA Assistant and Acting Medical Center Director, Long Beach, CA before his selection as Associate Medical Center Director, Loma Linda, CA.

In 1999, while serving as Director of the VA Health Administration Center in Denver, CO, he was recalled to active duty.

He is a Board Certified Healthcare Executive and Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and is Past-President, ACHE Western Florida Chapter.  He served as a board member on the Veterans Advisory Committee on Rehabilitation, Help Hospitalized Veterans and is a graduate of the 79th Interagency Institute for Federal Health Care Executives and Leadership VA.

He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Health Management from Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, and a Master’s Degree in Health Administration from the University of Laverne, Laverne, CA.

Mike Haynie

Mike Haynie, PhD
Executive Director and Founder
Institute for Veterans and Military Families, Syracuse University

 

 

The Barnes Professor of Entrepreneurship at Syracuse University’s Whitman School, Haynie completed his doctoral degree in the field of entrepreneurship and business strategy at the Leeds College of Business, University of Colorado at Boulder. His academic research is focused on decision-making, identity and entrepreneurial thinking, and has been published in many of the leading entrepreneurship and business journals. He serves on the editorial review boards of the Journal of Business Venturing and the Journal of Management Studies.

Before beginning his academic career, Haynie served for 14 years as an officer in the U.S. Air Force. Trained in logistics and acquisition, he was stationed throughout the U.S. and around the world in both operational and staff assignments. Prior to joining the faculty at SU, Haynie was assigned as a professor of management at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Shortly after he arrived at SU, Haynie founded the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) program, an initiative designed to offer world-class training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 veterans disabled as a result of their military service. Nearly 800 veterans have received EBV training since 2007, and the program is now being offered by a network of world-class schools across the country. In 2009, the EBV was recognized as a ‘National Best Practice’ by the Secretary of the Army for serving soldiers and their families, and in 2011 the editors of Inc. magazine selected the program as one of the ‘10-Best’ college-based entrepreneurship training programs in the U.S.

Haynie is a sought-after advisor and speaker on issues related to business, veterans and entrepreneurship. His work empowering veterans through business ownership has been featured nationally on major television news networks and in national news publications.  He currently serves on the external advisory committee of the Center for Integrated Healthcare at the Syracuse Regional Veterans Medical Center, on U.S. Senator Kirstin Gillibrand’s veterans’ advisory working-group, and is an appointed member of the U.S. Secretary of Labor’s Advisory Committee on Veterans’ Employment, Training, and Employer Outreach. Haynie is a steering committee member of the Military Child Education Coalition’s “New York Living in the New Normal Public Engagement Initiative”.

Haynie has received numerous awards for his community engagement, scholarship and teaching, including the U.S. Air Force Academy’s prestigious Snyder Memorial Award (2004), the Guttag Research Fellowship (2007-09), the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Award for Research Excellence (2007), the Michael Mescon Award for the Best Empirical Research in Entrepreneurship (2007) and the McGraw-Hill/Irwin Award for Innovation in Entrepreneurship Pedagogy (2009). 

Maria Milleville

Maria Milleville, BA
Education and Outreach Coordinator, Human Engineering Research Laboratories
University of Pittsburgh
millvill@pitt.edu

 

 

Ms. Maria Milleville, BA is an Education and Outreach Coordinator in the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology and Human Engineering Research Laboratories. Ms. Milleville is responsible for the facilitation of undergraduate internship programs and various outreach initiatives.  

Ms. Milleville is pursuing a graduate degree in Social and Comparative Analysis in Education at the University of Pittsburgh.

Junior Ortiz

Ismael Ortiz, Jr.
President
Junior Ortiz, LLC
junior.ortizllc@gmail.com

 

 

 

Mr. Junior Ortiz is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the United States Marines and the former Acting Assistant Secretary for Veterans Employment. His professional career spans over 30 years of working in government, corporate and the nonprofit sector.

Mr. Ortiz served as an enlisted man before being accepted to the United States Naval Academy, where he received his commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Marines. His twenty-seven year career encompassed many diverse assignments that ranged from Administration, Communication, Counter-drug Operations, Recruiting, Marketing and Advertising for the Marine Corps to professor and coach at the Naval Academy.

As the Principal advisor to the Secretary of Labor, Mr. Ortiz designed and implemented all policies and procedures for Veterans employment, training, and transition assistance. He was responsible for the coordination, implementation, and oversight of all employment and training programs for Veterans with a particular focus on reaching hard to serve populations, including homeless, disabled, rural, and disadvantaged.  

Today he works to help leaders focus on cultural transformation and to develop strategic plans needed to recruit, hire, and retain veterans and diverse populations based on the operational or business needs of the organization. Through his Leadership workshops, he helps organizations understand the value proposition and diversity that Veterans bring to the job market and how those values can contribute to the bottom line.  

Mr. Ortiz has a passion for young people. Through his motivational presentations and leadership development workshops, he has reached thousands of children, teens, and young adults with the message of staying in school, staying off drugs and reaching for their dreams. His story growing up in the South Bronx of New York is one that resonates with youth, particularly those that are disenfranchised or traditionally underserved. 

He has a Master of Science in Human Resource Management from Central Michigan University and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science with a concentration in Latin American studies from the U.S. Naval Academy.

Mr. Ortiz has served on numerous Corporate Board of Advisors, Board of Directors and Board of Trustees of associations and organizations throughout the United States and has participated in numerous White House Task Forces and public policy initiatives. He is a Life Member of the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation, the Military Officers Association of America, the American GI Forum of the United States and the American Legion.

Jack Tilley

SMA  (Ret.) Jack L. Tilley
Vice Chairman for Noncommissioned Officer  & Soldier Programs
Association of the United States Army
JackTilley12@verizon.net

 

 

 Jack L. Tilley was sworn in as the 12th sergeant major of the Army on June 23, 2000, and served until Jan. 15, 2004. A career Soldier, Tilley held many leadership positions within the Department of the Army and Unified Command environments.

As sergeant major of the Army, Tilley served as the Army chief of staff’s personal advisor on all enlisted-related matters, particularly in areas affecting Soldier training and quality of life. The SMA devoted the majority of his time to traveling throughout the Army observing training and talking to Soldiers and their families. He sat on a wide variety of councils and boards that make decisions affecting enlisted Soldiers and their families and routinely testified before Congress.

Tilley was born in Vancouver, Wash., on Dec. 3, 1948. He entered the Army in November 1966 and attended basic training at Fort Lewis, Wash., and advanced individual training at Fort Knox, Ky. Following tours in Vietnam and Fort Benning, Ga., Tilley left the Army for two years before enlisting again in September 1971.

Tilley demonstrated his personal commitment to the Army and his Soldiers as he advanced to positions of higher responsibility. He held a variety of important positions culminating with his assignment as the sergeant major of the Army. He previously held the senior enlisted position as command sergeant major of the United States Central Command, MacDill Air Force Base, FL. Other assignments he held as command sergeant major were 1st Battalion, 10th Cavalry, Fort Knox; 194th Armor Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Bad Kreuznach, Germany; and United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Arlington, Va.

Throughout his 37-year career, Tilley held every key leadership position including: tank commander, section leader, drill sergeant, platoon sergeant, senior instructor, operations sergeant and first sergeant. His military education includes the First Sergeants Course and the Sergeants Major Academy. He is also a graduate of the basic airborne course, drill sergeant school and master gunner's course.

His awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Bronze Star with V Device, Meritorious Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster, Vietnam Service Medal and Campaign Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, Overseas Service Ribbon (2), NCO Professional Development Ribbon (4), Drill Sergeant’s Badge and Parachutist's Badge.

Clarence Wilson

Clarence W. Wilson, III
Student Veteran
University of Pittsburgh
cww13@pitt.edu 

 

 

Clarence W. Wilson, III, a US Army Veteran and current student at the University of Pittsburgh.  Clarence is a participant in the Experiential Learning for Veterans in Assistive Technology and Engineering program (ELeVATE) and a current participant in the Advancing Inclusive Manufacturing (AIM) program, a comprehensive vocational training program for service members and veterans with disabilities. Based at the University of Pittsburgh Human Engineering Research Laboratories, AIM students learn how to design, develop, and evaluate their own product using established design principles. AIM program.

Faculty Disclosure

Faculty for this activity have been required to disclose all relationships with any proprietary entity producing health care goods or services, with the exemption of non-profit or government organizations and non-health care related companies.

No significant financial relationships with commercial entities were disclosed by:

COL Paul F. Pasquina, MD, Course Director
Shelly R. Brown, MEd, Course Coordinator
Nathan Bastien,  BA, Medical Student
Joyce A. Bender, BA, CEO and President
MAJ Brian T. Bilski, Transition Support Cell OIC
Ron Drach, President
COL (Ret.) Duane E. Hardesty, Outreach Ambassador, Operation IMPACT Program 
Robert C. Hart, MRC, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor
Mike Hartford, MHA, Director, Veterans Division
Maria Milleville,  BS, Education and Outreach Coordinator
Ismael Ortiz, Jr., President
SMA  (Ret.) Jack L. Tilley, Vice Chairman for Noncommissioned Officer & Soldier Programs
Clarence W. Wilson, III, Student Veteran

The following information was disclosed:

Rory Cooper, PhD, Course Director. Patent Agreements: AT Sciences; Three Rivers Holdings

 

CME Accreditation and Designation Statement 

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint sponsorship of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the Center for Rehabilitation Science Research at the Uniformed Services University for the Health Science.  The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 7.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Other health care professionals are awarded 0.7 continuing education units (CEU's) which are equal to 7.0 contact hours.

 

Disclaimer Statement

The information presented at this CME program represents the views and opinions of the individual presenters, and does not constitute the opinion or endorsement of, or promotion by, the UPMC Center for Continuing Education in the Health Sciences, UPMC/University of Pittsburgh Medical Center or Affiliates and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Reasonable efforts have been taken intending for educational subject matter to be presented in a balanced, unbiased fashion and in compliance with regulatory requirements. However, each program attendee must always use his/her own personal and professional judgment when considering further application of this information, particularly as it may relate to patient diagnostic or treatment decisions including, without limitation, FDA-approved uses and any off-label uses.