College of Education and Health Professions Names Departmental Alumni Award Winners

The College of Education and Health Professions recently announced the recipients of its 2026 Outstanding Departmental Alumni Awards.

Lindsey Gabbard, Gigi Secuban, Susan "Toni" Lockhart, Angela R. Watson, Samantha Crouch and Katie Babcock will be recognized at an evening banquet on March 6 to celebrate their achievements.

"Our six Departmental Alumni Award winners represent excellence across the education and health professions," said Dean Kate Mamiseishvili. "Each awardee is an inspiring example of how to lead with care, and we are excited to celebrate them and their accomplishments."

Outstanding Alumni

Department of Communication Disorders and Occupational Therapy 

Lindsey Gabbard earned a master's degree in communication disorders from the college, which served as the clinical and academic foundation for her career centered on service, communication and human connection. 

After completing her graduate studies at the U of A, Gabbard worked for three years as a speech-language pathologist in a hospital setting in Harrison. There, she provided patient-centered care across a wide range of medical and rehabilitative needs while collaborating closely with interdisciplinary healthcare teams. This role deepened her understanding of holistic care, particularly within rural communities.

This experience complemented her strong interest in human development and community-focused work, which was ignited while Gabbard was an undergraduate student at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Gabbard began her professional career at Ride On Center for Kids (ROCK), a nationally recognized equine-assisted program serving individuals with disabilities, in Georgetown. This role sparked a lasting commitment to innovative, relationship-based therapeutic approaches.

In 2022, Gabbard founded Branded Equine-Based Therapy Services, integrating her background in communication disorders, clinical practice and lifelong horsemanship. Branded now serves individuals, families, veterans and first responders through equine-based therapy, education and wild horse adoption programs.

Department of Counseling, Leadership, and Research Methods 

Gigi Secuban serves as vice president for inclusive excellence and belonging at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland. She brings more than 25 years of higher education experience and is a nationally recognized leader in advancing inclusion, belonging, student success and institutional transformation. Secuban has held inaugural vice president roles for inclusive excellence at Texas State University and Ohio University, where she led campus-wide strategies to embed belonging into institutional culture, policy and practice. 

Previously, Secuban served as associate vice chancellor and director of inclusion and intercultural relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she oversaw the renovation of the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center. Her leadership experience also includes multiple senior roles at the U of A.

Secuban's work centers on inclusive excellence planning, cultural and resource center development, fundraising and branding, campus climate assessment and collaborative leadership. She is also co-editor of the forthcoming NASPA publication In the Middle: Leading as a Mid-Level Professional in Student Affairs, which will be released this spring and contributes to national conversations on leadership development in higher education. She holds a doctorate in higher education, a master's in health science and a bachelor's in psychology from the U of A. 

Secuban is a 32-year member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Susan "Toni" Lockhart is a veteran educational leader with more than 30 years of experience as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, consultant and school administrator. She began her career after graduating summa cum laude from the college in 1989 with a bachelor's in education. She was named Teacher of the Year in Elkins early in her career. In 2000, she became the first National Board Certified Teacher in Arkansas and received the prestigious Milken Educator Award for excellence in teaching. 

Lockhart has served in multiple leadership roles, including instructional facilitator, Milken master teacher and educational consultant, supporting schools and districts across the state in strengthening instructional practice and leadership capacity. She later earned a master's in educational leadership from Arkansas State University and spent nearly 15 years as a senior educational consultant with Elbow2Elbow Educational Consulting. 

Currently, Lockhart serves as assistant principal at Sutton Elementary School in Fort Smith, where she continues to focus on instructional improvement, teacher development and student success. 

Department of Education Reform 

Angela R. Watson is a senior research fellow at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy and an assistant research professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Education. Her research examines homeschooling and non-traditional learning options. She is the creator of the Homeschool Hub and the director of the Homeschool Research Lab, both housed within the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy. 

Watson has publications in multiple scholarly journals, including Education Researcher, The Journal of Human Resources, Politics and Policy and the Journal of School Choice. Her research has appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and more.

She earned a doctorate in education policy from the college's Department of Education Reform, where her dissertation examined the impact of multiple arts-related field trips on students' academic, cultural and social-emotional outcomes. She holds a bachelor's in elementary education and a graduate certificate in STEM education from the college, as well as a master's in teaching from Harding University.

Watson is a fourth-generation Razorback. Her great-grandfather, Antonio Marinoni, was a professor of romance languages at the U of A in the early 1900s. 

Eleanor Mann School of Nursing 

Samantha Crouch is a certified nurse-midwife, fellow of the American College of Nurse-Midwives, international board-certified lactation consultant and assistant professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). She earned undergraduate degrees in nursing and Spanish language from the U of A and completed her master's and D.N.P. at Oregon Health & Science University. 

Crouch began her career in Northwest Arkansas, where she established a solo midwifery practice and introduced innovative models of care for families in the region. Early in her career, she focused on educating healthcare colleagues, hospital administrators, patients and legislators about the value of midwifery care, while identifying and addressing gaps in maternal-child health services. This work led her to pursue additional training in lactation and evidence-based childbirth education to better meet patient and community needs. 

Crouch served as president of the Arkansas Affiliate of the American College of Nurse-Midwives for five years, prioritizing advocacy at the local, state and federal levels. She played a key role in legislative efforts that culminated in full practice authority for certified nurse-midwives in Arkansas in 2021. She currently serves as program director for the nurse-midwifery program in UAMS' College of Nursing, the state's only midwifery education program, and provides outpatient gynecologic and reproductive health care at UAMS Northwest. Through education, clinical practice and mentorship, Crouch remains committed to developing critically thinking, policy-engaged leaders in midwifery and advancing maternal health across Arkansas. 

Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation

Katie Babcock joined the Memphis Grizzlies as assistant athletic trainer in 2021 after serving four seasons as head athletic trainer for the Stockton Kings. She accepted the role of head athletic trainer with Memphis in 2024.

Babcock completed her bachelor's degree in neurobiology, physiology and behavior at the University of California, Davis, in 2013, and earned her master's in athletic training from the college in 2016. She is a certified athletic trainer, a certified strength and conditioning specialist, a corrective exercise specialist, a performance enhancement specialist and a licensed massage therapist.

Prior to working in the NBA, Babcock completed an internship at Southern Methodist University, where she worked with the men's football and women's basketball teams and assisted the Dallas Mavericks during home games. She also worked with men's football and women's tennis at Florida Atlantic University. Babcock has had the opportunity to travel to Rwanda as the athletic trainer for the South Sudan Women's National Basketball Team during the FIBA Women's AfroBasket 2021 Zone 5 Qualifiers. Most recently, she volunteered with Basketball Without Borders Asia 2025 in Singapore.