Professor and director of the associate and bachelorâs physical therapist assistant (PTA) programs, Holly Clynch, PT, DPT '09, MAOL '02, has been with St. Catherine University since 1998. One year ago, the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) honored her with the Lucy Blair Service Award, recognizing her lifetime achievements and accomplished work in the field of physical therapy.
Clynch has been a member of the APTA Minnesota Branch for over 35 years, but didnât take an active position in the association until she began working at St. Kateâs, and credits the flexibility of her teaching role with her capability to take on a more involved role.
"Iâm very lucky that St. Kateâs has supported my involvement,â says Clynch. âMy supervisors over the years have encouraged me to be involved; theyâve recognized the value of it. Itâs afforded me opportunities to present on things, and I was even asked to write a textbook on PTAs."
She says that she didnât even know what the APTA House of Delegates was until a coworker nominated her to run for delegate. âI did it and got hooked. I love the process of being with 500 people in one big room, and youâre all super passionate about the profession, with very different ideas of how we should proceed, what we should do in the profession, what our mission should be⌠And you can have lots of disagreements but then be best friends with those people that you disagree with.â
Holly Clynch, PT, DPT '09, MAOL '02 (center), was honored in 2022 with the Bonnie Jean Kelly and Joan Kelly Award for Faculty Excellence. Pictured with President ReBecca Koenig Roloff '76 (left) and former provost Anita Thomas, PhD (right).
After serving as delegate for several years, Clynch was elected to chief delegate of Minnesota, and partially credits the honor to the name recognition sheâs gained working with students. She was elected to the APTA National Nominating Committee, where she served through her term, and then was elected president of APTA Minnesota, where she served for another three years.
Clynch chose not to run for reelection to focus on her work at St. Kateâs, but laughs as she recounts being âtalked intoâ running for a position on the Academy of Education, a subgroup of the APTA, where she currently serves as a board member.
Clynch says that she was very surprised to receive the Lucy Blair Service Award, which recognizes longitude of exceptional service to the APTA, and didnât know that her chapter colleagues had nominated her until it had already happened. âThey surprised me at a meeting and said, âWell, this is one of the few times youâve been speechless!ââ
The national award ceremony took place in Washington, D.C., and was attended by Clynchâs friends and peers. âWhen I actually received the award last August, having colleagues in the audience who cheered and high fived me when I walked past them coming off the stage â I respect those people so much and to have them respect me, it helps combat imposter syndrome that even people like me whoâve been around forever still feel. Itâs pretty humbling and pretty amazing.â
Clynch doesnât think sheâll run for âtoo many moreâ APTA positions, but is paying her honor forward by nominating other deserving colleagues for APTA awards, including writing letters of recommendation for the Lucy Blair Service Award. Clynch remarks, âAt the beginning of my career, I never in a million years would have thought that I wouldâve done anything Iâve done within the APTA. I tell students all the time that you just never know where your career is going to take you and itâs really important to just say yes when people ask you to do things."