Jacksonville University announces the Brooks Rehabilitation College of Healthcare Sciences

In honor of the largest single gift in the history of the College of Health Sciences and in gratitude for Brooks Rehabilitation’s ongoing support totaling $4 million over several years, Jacksonville University is pleased to announce the College has been named the Brooks Rehabilitation College of Healthcare Sciences.

The investment by Brooks Rehabilitation strengthens the University’s cooperative relationship reinforces a joint commitment to offer the highest-quality healthcare education and practice possible.

“Brooks Rehabilitation is a world-class partner,” said JU President Tim Cost. “They have earned a stellar reputation for outstanding service and care that complements ours, and this agreement will benefit our community’s residents and visitors. Together with our good friends at Brooks, the University will accelerate its recruitment of the very best students, faculty and researchers. We are honored and grateful to team with an organization of the unparalleled caliber of Brooks Rehabilitation and its outstanding CEO, Doug Baer.”

The newly donated and committed funds from Brooks will help Jacksonville University fulfill its 81-year academic promise to invest in its students and the community that has sustained it throughout its proud history. The mission and vision of the Brooks Rehabilitation College of Healthcare Sciences is to offer the most cohesive, competitive and exceptional programs that attract and educate the brightest minds to respond to the needs of an ever-changing healthcare marketplace.

“Brooks is proud to support JU in its commitment to provide exceptional educational programming for our future healthcare practitioners,” said Doug Baer, CEO of Brooks Rehabilitation. “JU is being aggressive and proactive approach to elevate its existing programs and identify areas of unmet need. Brooks is a large employer of therapists, nurses and other health professionals, and therefore, we have a unique motivation to ensure that graduates from JU’s College of Healthcare Sciences are expertly trained in their fields. Our culture of excellence is based upon the value of continuous learning, which is demonstrated by the expertise of our staff. We are excited about this partnership and the impact it will have on our community.”

Brooks Rehabilitation’s longstanding history as a JU supporter began with the Brooks Rehabilitation Speech-Language Pathology Program, fulfilling a goal to create a transformational educational program for Northeast Florida. The Brooks Rehabilitation Speech-Language Pathology program has proven very successful, advancing degrees of more than 60 students every two years, with

“It is an honor and a privilege to partner with Brooks Rehabilitation; their support empowers JU to lead progress, create opportunity, build programs and thrive during a time of progressive transition,” said Dr. Christine Sapienza, Dean of the Brooks Rehabilitation College of Healthcare Sciences.

“It is our intent to develop genuinely caring healthcare professionals. In today’s academic society, an institution must adapt and offer a broad-enough array of healthcare education while shaping excellence in the curriculum. Brooks Rehabilitation’s leadership strongly supports our mission, and as such there are future plans to provide advanced-degree programs in occupational therapy, mental health counseling, kinesiology and clinical leadership programs.”