DECORATED PHYSICIAN TO ADDRESS HONORS STUDENTS

Posted on April 6, 2012

California University will recognize more than 1,500 of its most accomplished scholars at an Honors Convocation 2 p.m. Saturday in Hamer Hall Auditorium. 


Dr. Dennis L. Eckels ’71 will deliver the honors address.

Eckels has been in private practice since 1976 at Valley Ambulatory Health Center in Seward, Pa. A member of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP), he holds additional qualifications in geriatric and osteopathic manipulative medicine.

In 2010 he was one of 14 osteopathic family physicians nationwide to receive the ACOFP Fellowship Award, an honor conferred on those osteopathic family physicians who have contributed outstanding service through teaching, authorship, research or professional leadership.

Eckels serves on the clinical faculty at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, and he is an adjunct clinical instructor at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Erie, Pa.

He is program director of the ACOFP Family Practice Residency Program at Conemaugh Medical Center in Johnstown, Pa. In 2009 his office was selected to participate in the Chronic Care Collaborative in Diabetes, a statewide research project.

A member of the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, Dr. Eckels is certified as a master scuba diver and a scuba rescue diver. He also serves on medical response teams that assist with deep mine rescue and urban search-and-rescue assignments, and that respond to disasters by providing medical assistance and tactical medical support.

Eckels earned his bachelors degree in biology at California State University. A U.S. Army veteran, he graduated from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1975 and served a rotating internship in Tri-County Hospital in Springfield, Pa.

Cal U President Angelo Armenti, Jr. will preside over the Convocation, and Provost Geraldine Jones will introduce the platform party.

The University rewards academic excellence on the part of master’s, bachelor’s and associate degree-seeking students by honoring Presidential Scholars at this annual event.

In addition to meeting other requirements, Presidential Scholars carry a grade-point average of 3.25 or above. Both full- and part-time students are eligible for the award.