Announcements
Applications for Fall 2010 admission are now being accepted ONLINE.

Are you interested in finding out more about Occupational Therapy before applying to the Occupational Therapy Doctoral program?   

If the answer is YES…sign up for OCCT2550 Purposeful Living: The Role of Occupational  Therapy.        

The Occupational Therapy Department is offering an undergraduate course in Occupational Therapy beginning fall 2009.  If interested, please contact bethann.hatkevich@utoledo.edu for more information.

What is Occupation?
Human beings have an occupational nature. When a person does things (when a person engages in occupations), the person fulfills one's unique potential and exercises sensorimotor, cognitive, and psychosocial abilities. Occupations promote and shape development and they reflect the person's deepest meanings and purposes.

What is Occupational Therapy?
Given the power of occupation in human development, it is not surprising that a profession is specifically devoted to the use of occupation as a therapeutic method. The profession of occupational therapy is based on the use of occupation for health promotion and remediation of disorders. Therefore, the mission of the Department of Occupational Therapy at The University of Toledo is the study and application of therapeutic occupation.

What is unique about Occupational Therapy (OT) education at UT?
OT education at UT is grounded in the belief that a true graduate program builds knowledge as well as imparts knowledge. The Department has a specific approach to therapeutic occupation and a strong commitment to the development of new knowledge. The Department faculty are committed to the preparation of occupational therapists who are highly competent practitioners, contributors to research, potential leaders, future educators, and advocates for the profession. To this end, students in this program will be challenged to critically analyze therapeutic occupation and to move the profession forward through state-of-the-art practice and scholarly inquiry.

Why an Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD)?
The purpose of the OTD is to prepare occupational therapists for independent practice in a wide variety of settings including specialty areas of choice. The OTD is for those who wish to enter the field of OT and have completed a bachelor's degree in another discipline. The increased classroom and clinical experiences contained in the OTD promote development of a broader array of contemporary practice skills, increased autonomy in decision-making, and enhanced leadership skills.

UTHSC is a great value
UTHSC is a public institution and therefore, tuition is relatively reasonable by today’s standards especially when compared with private institutions. Even with lower tuition, excellent packages of financial aid and scholarships are available to qualified students.  Visit The University of Toledo’s web page for current tuition information at http://www.utoledo.edu/offices/treasurer/

The UT program is nationally ranked
Currenty, there are 152 schools that offer OT programs in the U.S.  US News and World Report currently ranks the University of Toledo among the top 25% of occupational therapy programs.

Enjoy a small class size
Twenty graduate students are admitted each Fall.  The small class size permits easy access to professors.  Students get individual attention and really get to know the faculty and their classmates.  In turn, the faculty get to know students too.  See the students’ web pages at http://www.utoledo.edu/hshs/mots/index.html and learn more about UT’s students.

Learn in a rich environment
The occupational therapy program is located in the technologically sophisticated Howard L. Collier building.  The classrooms and labs have been designed to meet the needs of students and faculty for teaching and research.  In addition, students benefit from the resources accumulated from three nationally funded grants including departmental library and media collections on gerontolgical issues, assessments, and intervention technology.

Study with an excellent faculty
All of the full-time faculty are doctorally prepared and nationally recognized for scholarship, teaching, and service.  The faculty have contributed to the body of knowledge in occupational therapy through research and publication.  They have also won awards for teaching.  In addition, a stellar group of community occupational therapists serve as adjunct faculty, fieldwork supervisors, and capstone site mentors.  See Program Faculty for a list of faculty and their research interests.

Hands on learning with clients and patients
We have excellent fieldwork and capstone opportunities in all aspects of occupational therapy, including structured clinical learning opportunities in every semester of the program starting with the first semester.

Individualize your education
An individually planned capstone experience in an area of practice of particular interest to the student permits the development of enhanced contemporary practice skills.

Study occupational therapy in Sweden
We have developed an exchange program with the prestigious Karolinska Institute of Stockholm, Sweden.  Selected students can complete a portion of their fieldwork experiences in Sweden.

Do important research
As a student, you will have an opportunity to do an individual research project, designed with a faculty mentor, to answer an important question in occupational therapy.  Many of our students and alumni have published their results in professional journals and presented results at  professional conferences. See student publications at http://www.utoledo.edu/hshs/mots/research/research_published.html

Excellent preparation to pass the national certification examination
As of March 2008, 219 graduates have passed the national certification examination with 214 passing on the first attempt and the remaining 5 passing on the second attempt. The total number of graduates who passed the certification exam as first-time new graduate test takers in 2005 – 2007 was 33 out of 34, which is a 97% pass rate. During that 3-year period, the program had 34 graduates. Graduates must pass this examination to be eligible for licenses in their respective states. See “Accreditation Status and Licensing Information”.

Attend a graduate program in occupational therapy
As of 2007, The Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education no longer accredits baccalaureate programs in occupational therapy.  Graduate entry into the profession is the wave of the future.  UT was designed from its inception as a graduate program.  We were the first graduate-level occupational therapy program in the state of Ohio and have over a decade of experience with graduate-level programming.  Beginning in 2005, we offered the first Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) in Ohio and the first OTD program in the nation at a public institution.

For more information
Call to arrange a visit to campus or to speak with a professor. Contact the Department secretary at 419-383-3519 for more information or email us at OccTherapyDoctorate@UToledo.edu