Department Scholarship
Scholarship is inherent in all aspects of our program. All faculty imbue their courses with scholarly content in multiple ways, and all faculty are involved in scholarly activities through research, teaching and service. Developmentally, scholarship is implicitly introduced in the earliest courses through the use of evidence within courses and the way faculty model scholarship through their clinical reasoning and their own scholarly projects. As the students progress they actively engage in scholarship: Developing community programs, writing a scoping review, participating in research labs, and culminating with the application of scholarship through their Doctoral Capstone Project. This implicit and explicit reliance on scholarship shapes our students as leaders and advocates of the profession and enables them to develop and implement programs in emerging practice areas.
Transformative Experiences, Bold Ideas, Innovate, Active Citizenship
Our faculty scholarship focuses in areas of emerging practice and look for novel methods to address individual and population issues related to participation. We have strong collaborations with other disciplines and within the community.
Students engage in discovery research within faculty labs which enable them to have transformative scholarship experiences. Classroom activities, such as completing a scoping review, develop high levels or scholarship and transform their understanding of the idea of scholarship and research. They have multiple service learning projects which encourage scholarship related real problems in the community.
Participation
Participation is the common link in all faculty and student scholarship. Research of Discovery, Integration, Application, and Teaching/Learning are all aimed at understanding/improving participation in people, populations, and communities.
Explore our recent and upcoming scholarship
Explore Our Recent Doctoral Capstone Projects
We are delighted to be digitally disseminating to you our doctoral student and faculty scholarly collaborations. We hope you find this information meaningful and helpful in sparking further innovation in the occupational therapy profession.
Conference Presentations 2025
Join us at the AOTA Conference in Philly April 3rd-5th!
We have a number of faculty and alumni presentations and poster sessions:
Brynn Speroni, OT, OTD, MOT, OTR will be presenting a poster at AOTA Inspire 2025 on “Evidence-Based Needs Assessment: Occupational Therapy Services in Post-Secondary Education.”
Ryan Whitney, OT, OTD, OTR will be presenting a poster at AOTA Inspire 2025 on “Interprofessional Education Delivery for OT and Physician Assistant Students & Outcomes Using the Interprofessional Collaborative Competency Attainment Scale.”
Ryan Whitney, OT, OTD, OTR will also be giving a workshop presentation at AOTA Inspire 2025 on “Fieldwork Accommodations: An Interprofessional Partnership Between Accessibility Services & the OT Department at Tufts University.”
Peggy Morris, OTD, OT, BCP, will be presenting a poster at AOTA Inspire 2025 on “Interprofessional Education Delivery for OT and Physician Assistant Students & Outcomes Using the Interprofessional Collaborative Competency Attainment Scale.”
Peggy Morris, OTD, OT, BCP, will also be giving a workshop presentation at AOTA Inspire 2025 on “Respecting the Evidence: Handwriting & Advocacy for 2025”
Other Conference Presentations
Peggy Morris, OTD, OT, BCP, will be giving a workshop presentation at the 7th School-based OT & PT Symposium Apply EBP on “Strengths-based Application of Sensory Processing Assessments.”
Jennifer C Buxton, MA, OTR/L, ATP, Med will be giving a workshop presentation at Assistive Technology Industries Association (ATIA) 2025 Annual Conference on “OT & SLP Collaboration: Enhancing Life for Those with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.”
Nancy Baker, ScD, MPH, OTR, FAOTA: Virtual Reality: A New Frontier in Neurorehabilitation.
Conference: 45th Annual Neurorehabilitation Conference: Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Braintree; 2025 Jan 25; Online.
Nancy Baker, ScD, MPH, OTR, FAOTA: Recurrent, and Chronic Pain Across the Life Span.
Core Domain Measurements for Immersive Technologies for Acute Conference: A Consensus Conference; The Hospital for Sick Kids; 2025 Jan 22-23. Toronto.
Congratulations to:
Mary Alicia Barnes on her FAOTA Award!
Janet Brooks on The William Hetrick Editorial Scholarship by the Professional Ski Instructors of America. The William Hetrick Editorial Scholarship was created to provide a long-term legacy for Bill Hetrick and recognize his passion for both snowsports and writing about snowsports and the mountain experience. It is an annual program. The Hetrick scholarships are awarded to contributors to the SnowPro ( PSIA/ASSI instructor publication).
Margaret (Peggy) Morris for her chapters:
Morris, P. (2024) Handwriting. In Foundations of Pediatric Practice for the Occupational Therapy Assistant (pp. 299-314). Routledge.
Hollenbeck, J., & Morris, P. (2024). The Educational Model. In Foundations of Pediatric Practice for the Occupational Therapy Assistant (pp. 415-444). Routledge.
Jenifer Buxton for her co-authored JOTE piece:
Buxton, J. C., & McMahon, L. F. (2024). Outcomes from an Intercollegiate Client-Centered Interprofessional Occupation-Based Assistive Technology Hackathon: A Pilot Program Evaluation. Journal of Occupational Therapy Education, 8 (4). https://doi.org/10.26681/jote.2024.080416
Exciting grant funded research projects underway!
Ryan Whitney, Brynn Speroni, Mary Barnes, & Nancy Baker were awarded a springboard grant by Tufts Initiative on Substance Use and Addiction to fund a community engaged collaboration to evaluate effectiveness of occupational therapy in residential recovery services.