Stephanie joined the Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Sciences in the spring of 2021 as a full-time instructor and founding director of clinical education.
Stephanie’s teaching philosophy fosters positive self-direction and independence, and encourages individual responsibility for learning, curiosity, and creativity. A student called Stephanie’s teaching style, “the most powerful and transferable learning tool for me to carry over critical clinical skills.”

Program Director Celeste Domsch describes Stephanie’s teaching style as showing tremendous personal dedication to both providing and coordinating high-quality, contemporary, evidence- based clinical education.

“Stephanie embodies leadership that inspires, not requires,” said one student. “Hers is a constructive learning environment that feels safe and student centered but also focuses on increasing clinical skills.”

In addition to instruction, Stephanie directed the opening of and oversees clinical operations of the school’s pro-bono speech language pathology clinic in Newark. Under her leadership, students hone their skills and at the same time provide critically needed therapy to some of New Jersey’s most underserved populations.

“Stephanie represents our field wonderfully,” says one student. “She will continue to produce student clinicians that are inspired, ethical, and have refined skills.”

He chose his final three clinical placements based on the service he could provide to the community. He was selected in an extremely competitive national process to do his final clinical placement at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He also completed an acute care rotation at University Hospital, and treated adults and children from the Zuni nation in New Mexico at the Zuni Community Health Center.

He became part of the Community Participatory PT Clinic right from the beginning of his first year. He was the clinic director from February of 2021 through last August when he began his full time off-site clinical rotations. Tapan led the ‘fun’ in treatment sessions – that often ended with some dance moves for all patient, clients, and classmates to join in. In addition to his leadership in the clinic, Tapan was also the secretary of the Doctor of Physical Therapy Student Council and serves on the National level as Vice President of Membership for Iota Nu Delta Fraternity.

One of the things we appreciate about Tapan, is that what he does naturally quickly becomes something that others emulate. When he was an Anatomy TA for two years—many students singled him out for his contributions to their learning. His 3.944 GPA speaks to his scholarship excellence but it is also notable that he achieved that GPA while still being involved with so many activities that made a difference to his cohort and our whole Newark community. He leaves a legacy of collegiality that makes
each of us stronger.

We are confident that Lt. Tapan will continue to make significant service contributions moving forward as a clinician, a patient advocate, and as a representative of the profession continually advancing care models that improve lives.