A professor at Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale-Davie, Fla., has been recommended by an 11-member search committee to be the new dean of the UM-Flint School of Health Professions and Studies.
Provost Jack Kay announced the selection of Barbara Kornblau, a professor of occupational therapy and public health in the College of Allied Health and Nursing, and College of Osteopathic Medicine. The Board of Regents will be asked to approve Kornblau at its June 18 meeting.
Kornblau earned her Bachelor of Science degree in occupational therapy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she also completed upper division and graduate coursework in the history of medicine and public health from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
She earned a law degree from the University of Miami. Kornblau holds several licenses and certifications as an attorney in the state of Florida, certified case manager, certified disability management specialist, certified rehabilitation services provider/rehabilitation counselor/qualified rehabilitation provider, and occupational therapist.
“I am confident that Dr. Kornblau will quickly become a valuable member of the University of Michigan-Flint academic leadership team and an important voice in our local, regional and national health communities,” Kay says.
Kornblau’s administrative experience includes president and board chair of the Occupational Therapy Association, board chair of the Arthritis Foundation Southeast Branch, Florida Chapter; consultant to Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Occupational Therapy Services; chief of occupational therapy at Baptist Hospital of Miami; director of clinical services and owner of Innovative Therapeutics, and association director of Occupational Therapy Resource Services Inc.
She has published two books with another in preparation, more than two dozen book chapters and more than 30 peer-reviewed publications. She also authored more than 15 invited articles, six videotapes and more than 75 peer-reviewed papers and posters. She currently has funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and has obtained more than $1 million dollars in research funding.
In a letter accepting the position, Kornblau writes, “I see a bold future for the school. The potential for partnerships and collaboration is bound only by the imagination and creativity of its leader, faculty, and students.”
Betty Velthouse has served as interim dean since July 2008.
