Arkansas Higher Education Board Approves Joint Doctoral Program

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board today approved a Doctor of Occupational Therapy program to be jointly operated by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the University of Arkansas.

The program would be part of the U of A College of Education and Health Professions and the UAMS College of Health Professions. It will be jointly located at the U of A campus and UAMS Northwest Regional Campus, both in Fayetteville.

“We are thrilled to partner with UAMS to create this program that addresses a serious need in northwest Arkansas,” said Michael T. Miller, dean of the College of Education and Health Professions. “This is the first joint partnership between these two institutions, and I think we’ve selected a program that utilizes the strengths of both universities.”

Stephanie Gardner, provost and chief academic officer at UAMS, hailed the program as a “true partnership between the University of Arkansas and UAMS to offer a high quality doctoral-level, accredited occupational therapy program.”

“Combining the resources of Arkansas’ flagship university and its only academic health sciences center will create a program that will address a regional and statewide health care workforce need,” she added.

The Higher Education board’s approval means the universities can hire a director for the new program. Once hired, the director will begin the accreditation process with the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy, as well as finalize a curriculum and hire faculty.

The first group of 24 students is scheduled to begin in fall 2018, a timeframe that is dependent on the accreditation process. The program is slated to reach its maximum annual enrollment of 32 students by its sixth class.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, occupational therapy is among the fastest growing professions in the nation. Arkansas’ Center for Rural Health reports that as the demand increases, the already-sizable job vacancy rate for occupational therapists in the state is expected to grow over the next few years, especially in northwest Arkansas.

“There is a great need for occupational therapists in Northwest Arkansas, a fact that became quite evident as we were conducting the needs assessment for UAMS’ physical therapy program,” said Douglas Murphy, dean of the UAMS College of Health Professions. “The people who were responding to that survey kept telling us about a shortage of occupational therapists in the region. With that kind of feedback, it made sense to create a program in Fayetteville.”

The joint program ties together existing programs at the U of A and UAMS, said Fran Hagstrom, assistant dean for Health Professions in the College of Education and Health Professions.

“The triad for rehabilitation services is occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech-language pathology,” she said. “Our college offers a graduate-level speech-language program, while UAMS has a doctor of physical therapy program on its Northwest Campus. The joint occupational therapy program allows us to bring all of those resources together for our students in a way that truly promotes inter-professional learning experiences.”