NH-ME LEND Honors Senior Faculty Members

This year NH-ME LEND will bid farewell to three University of New Hampshire faculty members: Rae Sonnenmeier, Communication Sciences and Disorders; Shelley Mulligan, Occupational Therapy; and Rosemary Caron, Health Management & Policy. Each individual made significant contributions to the development and success of the program over many years.

For Rae Sonnenmeier, LEND has been a substantial and meaningful part of her 27 years at UNH. She started as a LEND trainee and then became a faculty mentor. In 1999, she was named Training Director and served for 10 years in that position. Rae noted the Seacoast Child Development Clinic (1992-2006) as among one of her favorite experiences during her tenure “I learned a great deal about listening to families and supporting them with information about their child’s development and needs. I expanded my skills to collaborate with other professionals and learned how to share roles when needed. I enhanced my skills as a supervisor of graduate student clinicians in both my discipline and others.” In 2021 Rae accepted an appointment as the Director of Clinical Education in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders where she will now continue her work. Betsy Humphreys, LEND Director, honored Rae at a recent NH-ME LEND Faculty Meeting. “Rae’s meticulous work helped shape and grow this program to what it is today. You played such a significant role in every aspect of the program including clinical training, curriculum development, and the development of the Leadership Core. We can’t thank you enough for all the contributions you have made to the program. You have legacy with this LEND program.”

Rosemary Caron joined the NH-ME LEND faculty in 2011. During her time with LEND, Rosemary mentored trainees and helped develop curriculum content around social determinants of health and cultural competence. Rosemary developed a case-based learning experience on the fatal lead poisoning in a New Hampshire refugee family. This content became a central focus in our curriculum on health equity. Rosemary has accepted a position as the inaugural Dean of the School of Healthcare Leadership at the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions. Rosemary recently reflected on her role within LEND: “I worked with trainees at different stages of their education and work experience and was always challenged by how to mentor them in a way that was beneficial and allowed us both to grow as a result. Working with the trainees was a rich and rewarding experience.” Congratulations on your new role, Rosemary!

Shelley Mulligan was a faculty member, clinical occupational therapist, and mentor with the NH-ME LEND program for over 20 years. Through her instruction in pediatric clinical practice, child development, and research methods, Shelley’s teaching emphasized the importance of family centered care and collaborative provider partnerships.  Looking back, Shelley recollected, “We really make a difference as a program in so many areas: promoting comprehensive assessment, family centered care, full inclusion, early identification of autism, and more recently supporting children and families affected by the opioid epidemic.”  Shelley will remain in her faculty role in the Occupational Therapy Department at UNH where she will continue to focus on quality supports and occupational therapy services for children with developmental concerns including attention, learning, sensory processing differences, and autism spectrum disorders

The lasting contributions of these three outstanding faculty members will never be forgotten. We wish them well in their future endeavors and commend their continuing dedication to clinical practice and leadership in healthcare for people with disabilities.