Susan Wilbanks teaches in the Department of Kinesiology at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. She leads undergraduate courses that connect science with practice, including Foundations of Scientific Inquiry, Exercise as Medicine, Disability and Participation, and Anatomy and Kinesiology. Her classes emphasize clear reasoning, evidence use, and practical application in health and rehabilitation settings.

Her teaching and learning research examines how assessment design shapes student performance and long-term understanding. Current projects include comparative studies of exam resource availability and guided workflows for generating high-quality test items that align with Bloom’s taxonomy. She also mentors student research teams, building skills in question formulation, data collection, and interpretation.

Dr. Wilbanks’s pain rehabilitation research focuses on patient-centered outcomes and participation. Ongoing work explores expectations of functional recovery versus return to work after injury, and the role of exercise in improving pain, confidence, and activity engagement. She aims to translate findings into clear tools for clinicians and students, with attention to safety, feasibility, and communication.

Statement of faith: As a Christian educator, Susan seeks to reflect Christ in her teaching, scholarship, and service. She affirms the dignity of every person made in the image of God, values honest inquiry, and pursues excellence with humility and care. In community with students and colleagues, she strives to cultivate curiosity, integrity, and a posture of service that extends beyond the classroom into the professions and communities her graduates will lead.