UMPI Class of 1988 Bachelors in Health, PE, &Recreation

Update by Greg Tardie, alumnus

 

“My wings have taken me on some unexpected flights. But I have to thank Caroline Gentile, Roger Richards, and especially Sue Beaudet and Royal Goheen for their guidance of a student who had not yet shown any evidence of wings. After graduation from UMPI, I taught physical education for three years and earned my MS. During my doctoral program at Florida State University I spent a month at the Texas Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary in a joint project with Mobil Oil and NOAA. It almost led me to change programs and pursue an entirely new flight path.

I met my wife about the time I completed my doctoral requirements- it’s now been 20 years. A few months after our wedding I was hired as an Assistant Professor in South Carolina, where I also worked as a part-time clinical study coordinator (on what is now Crestor®). So that was the real turning point for my career. Then a new opportunity came our way in the Department of Clinical Investigations at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, TX. Since moving back to the east coast a number of years ago – I’ve worked in the pharmaceutical industry across a wide variety of therapeutic areas (currently rare diseases).

There’s a lot of gratitude for having grown up in Caribou Maine, for those who influenced these flights and for the opportunities that have come my way.

At the end of the day – a blue-collar heart beats in this white-collar boy.”