UW-Madison’s Andrew Winterstein is being inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Trainers’ Association Hall of Fame, which is the highest honor awarded by WATA.
Winterstein is a distinguished clinical professor with the School of Education’s Department of Kinesiology, where he directs the university’s highly regarded Athletic Training Program. He also is an athletic trainer with University Health Services, and holds affiliate appointments with the UW School of Medicine and Public Health and the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation.
“To be inducted into the WATA Hall of Fame alongside some of the professionals who have had such a positive influence on my career in Wisconsin is very special to me,” says Winterstein. “This honor goes well beyond me as I am blessed with wonderful students, fantastic alumni and exceptional colleagues.”
In addition to Winterstein, this year’s Hall of Fame class also includes Richard Henke from Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin and Timothy McGuine from UW – Madison. All three are being inducted into the WATA Hall of Fame’s 2018 class, and will be recognized on Friday, April 13. The WATA Annual Meeting and Symposium runs April 12-14 in Wisconsin Dells.
Winterstein has been a member of WATA since 1986, is recognized as an early adopter of evidence-guided practice and is a longtime advocate for athletic training in Wisconsin, across the nation and around the world. In addition to being a member of committees at all levels of the profession, he also is a reviewer for the Journal of Athletic Training and Sports Healthcare, and has a strong publication record himself.
Winterstein’s areas of expertise include: emerging technologies for AT education; medical humanities; and the scholarship of teaching and learning. His book, “The Athletic Training Student Primer: A Foundation for Success,” is in its third printing and is being used by programs across the nation. Another textbook he co-authored is the highly adopted “Administrative Topics in Athletic Training: Concepts to Practice.” It was first published in 2009, with a second printing in 2017.
“Andy has made his mark as a leader, forward thinker and ambassador for our profession on so many stages,” says UW-Madison’s Shari Clark, an associate faculty associate with the Department of Kinesiology and the clinical education coordinator for the Athletic Training Program. “But the piece that so few people see is his commitment to his faculty and students. Andy is an innovative educator who challenges our students daily with different teaching techniques and helps our students grow exponentially.”
Students within UW-Madison’s Athletic Training Program have passed their board of certification examination on their first try every year since 2010.
Being elected to the WATA Hall is Fame is only the most recent significant honor for Winterstein, who received the WATA Outstanding Educator Award in 2007 and the Great Lakes Athletic Trainers’ Association’s Outstanding Educator Award in 2008. More recently, in 2016 he received one of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association’s (NATA) top honors, a Most Distinguished Athletic Trainers (MDAT) award. And just last year, he earned the prestigious Sayers “Bud” Miller Outstanding Educator Award from the National Athletic Trainers’ Association’s Executive Committee on Education.
“In all of his roles he has brought positive change and impact on the WATA and the profession of athletic training,” Mark Gibson, who directs UW-La Crosse’s athletic training program, writes in his nomination letter. “He has taught at education conferences and has taught internationally. Although many of these activities take place on a large scale outside of Wisconsin, there is full recognition that Dr. Winterstein is a primary reason why the WATA enjoys the national reputation it has as a progressive leader on the national and international state of sports medicine and athletic training.”