Chair's Message

Welcome to the baccalaureate degree program in Radiation Therapy at Texas State University. The program’s strengths include strong cooperative relationships with 26 cancer centers throughout the state to provide a strong and diverse clinical foundation to our students.  Major strengths noted by the accreditation process include the strong support of a large group of clinical affiliates spread across the state, their clinical supervisors, and an extremely strong faculty.  Faculty include two PhD professors with backgrounds in radiation therapy and advanced degrees in adult education; Masters prepared faculty; faculty with over 30 years experience as regional directors; credentialed faculty in medical dosimetry, an oncology certified nurse, and teaching faculty within a PhD medical physics program.

The program was awarded full accreditation status after its first accreditation application and site visit in the year 2000 with the maximum award period of 3 years as a new program.

The radiation therapy program completed it’s second JRCERT accreditation site visit during the Fall of 2004. The program assessment concluded with 100% positive comments with no recommendations. The site visitor is quoted in saying that “these types of programs produce graduates who distinguish themselves from the blue collar mentality. We know where tomorrow’s leaders in our profession are coming from.” The program has been awarded a maximum accreditation period of 8 years for each of its reviews. The program is noted for going above and exceeding requirements and accreditation standards.

Together, our faculty deliver a very comprehensive curriculum while sharing an educational philosophy that is based on two principles; the first regards the Quality of Education – making every class a great learning experience while taking a personal interest in each student. I have known wonderful teachers at this great university as my own instructors. It is my desire to keep alive the tradition of providing a personalized interest to every student. My instructors have had a positive impact on my life as they were able to make “a connection” with the material and intrinsic motivation that was instilled in me. As teachers and lifelong learners, I believe that we share the spirit to encourage all students to become lifelong learners.

The second principle regards each of us as an academic advisor, a coach, a career counselor. We realize the importance of helping individual students set goals that are attainable while challenging the student to reach higher levels. Each one of us have provided many hours of personal consultation with students to provide direction. Teachers are powerful people who can change another person’s life by sculpting what they are, into what they desire to be. As a Chair and teacher it is my goal to maintain an environment in which students find intrinsic motivation for learning and education while pursuing their goals. In professions in which starting salaries are comparatively high, the motivational factors instilled in each student for learning should reflect an initiative of higher order. A strong value that we share as faculty is this higher order of education in the growing numbers of graduates from our program.

Please explore other links on this webpage to learn more about the exciting profession of Radiation Therapy and about our program.

 

Megan Trad, Ph.D., MSRS., RT(T)
Professor and Chair