Shelia Cotten, PhD, Interim Director of the Sparrow/MSU Center for Innovation and Research
Published: Aug. 28, 2014
Shelia Cotten, PhD, has been appointed Interim Director of the Sparrow/MSU Center for Innovation and Research by the Center’s Governing Board. Cotten will follow Barbara Given, PhD, RN, FAAN, and University Distinguished Professor, who has served as Interim Director of the Center since its inception in September 2012.
Cotten is currently a professor in the Department of Media and Information in the College of Communications Arts and Sciences. Cotten’s studies focus on the health, educational, and social impacts of technology in users in all stages of life. Cotten conducts large-scale community based intervention studies designed to use technology to enhance various aspects of quality of life.
Cotten is working on a trial designed to enhance quality of life among older adults with the use of technology training. Her work is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. She is the past Chair of the Communication and Information Technologies Section of the American Sociological Association (CITASA) and the 2013 recipient of the Public Sociology Award from the CITASA section of the American Sociological Association. Cotten enjoys teaching courses on the social impacts of technology, survey research, and research methods.
The Center for Innovation and Research has been created through a formal partnership agreement between Sparrow Health System and Michigan State University. MSU’s intellectual capital and Sparrow’s community-based clinicians work collaboratively to develop innovative approaches to high quality, safe health care. The Center aims to transform the delivery of health care through the implementation and evaluation of research that improves Patient outcomes and lowers costs.