Department Chair: Dale Coffin
The Department of Occupational Therapy offers a three-year program leading to the Entry-Level Doctorate in Occupational Therapy Degree. This degree program is offered in a traditional weekday format.
Occupational therapy is the art and science of directing an individual’s participation in selected tasks to restore, reinforce, and enhance performance in activities that are important and meaningful to their health and well-being. Reference to occupation in the title is in the context of an individual’s goal-directed use of time, energy, interest, and attention. An occupational therapist’s fundamental concern is the client’s development and maintenance of the capacity to perform, throughout the life span and with satisfaction to self and others, those tasks and roles essential to productive living and to the mastery of self and the environment.
Occupational therapy provides service to those individuals whose abilities to cope with tasks of living are threatened or impaired by developmental deficits, the aging process, poverty, cultural differences, physical injury or illness, or psychological and social disability.
Occupational therapy serves a diverse population in a variety of settings, such as hospitals and clinics, rehabilitation facilities, long-term care facilities, extended care facilities, sheltered workshops, schools and camps, private homes, and community agencies.
The Occupational Therapy Program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE): c/o AOTA, 6116 Executive Boulevard, Suite 200, North Bethesda, MD 20852-4929. ACOTE’s phone number is 301-652-6611 (x 2914). Graduates of the program will be eligible to sit for the national certification examination for the occupational therapist, administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). After successful completion of this exam, the individual will be an Occupational Therapist, Registered (OTR). In addition, most states require licensure in order to practice; however, state licenses are usually based on the results of the NBCOT certification examination. A felony conviction may affect a graduate’s eligibility to sit for the NBCOT certification examination or attain state licensure.
In addition to the Entry-Level Doctorate in Occupational Therapy degree, the school’s Certificate of Professional Achievement in Occupational Therapy is awarded upon satisfactory completion of all required coursework.
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