Welcome to The Bill Bitzel Memorial Affiliate Application for Student Professional Development Activity!

Brief History: The Bill Bitzel Memorial Fund was established by Beth Brown and the Georgia Society for Respiratory Care (GSRC) through the ARCF in memory of Bill Bitzel who was serving as one of Georgia's delegates when he passed.

Bill was a passionate Respiratory Therapy manager in Georgia and served in many roles in the GSRC, including president and delegate. He helped establish and served on the Georgia Composite State Board Advisory Committee. One of Bill's passions was promoting professionalism and professional development among new practitioners. He wanted students to understand the AARC, GSRC, and NBRC and the role these organizations played in their professional lives. While in the HOD, Bill heard a statistic that said, “if you can keep a student as a member of the AARC for 2 years after graduation, they are generally lifetime members.” After hearing this, Bill worked to establish a GSRC Student Camp (student meeting) which focused on developing the student for the professional side of their career and to help guide them in becoming engaged professionals as they start out in their new career and profession.

This award is to provide seed money for a new and innovative professional development activity at the state affiliate that targets students. The professional development activity might be utilized but is not limited to, running a Student Boot Camp, Student Meeting, etc.

The amount of the award will vary each year and is based on the interest earned on the account in the prior fiscal year. The number of awards may also vary based on the number of applications.

• The application must be submitted to: AARC HOD Special Recognition Committee
• You will be notified of the committee’s decision by September 1st.
• The recipient(s) of the award will be announced at the AARC Congress Awards Ceremony.
• After the program has been completed, you MUST submit a brief paragraph describing your program, its implementation, and your measures of success.

If you have any questions, please contact the committee Co-Chairs at (hodawards@aarc.org).