CSU faculty, alumnus named among top 100 influential people in OT

by Gretchen Gerding | July 2, 2017 12:00 PM

[1]

The nominations are in, and in honor of its centennial, the American Occupational Therapy Association has named 100 Influential People[2] to celebrate 100 years of history in the field (1917 – 2017).

The list featured four people with ties to the Colorado State University OT program: Ellie Gilfoyle, professor emerita, Anne Fisher, affiliate faculty, Wendy Wood, professor in OT, and Jim Hinojosa, a 1973 OT alumnus.

“I know I speak for the entire CSU Department of Occupational Therapy in saying how proud we are to have such long and strong associations with the most influential people in the profession,” said Anita Bundy, department head in OT.

Ellie Gilfoyle

Ellie Gilfoyle, professor emerita, served at CSU from 1981 to 2000 in various roles. She was the department head in OT, the dean of the College of Applied Human Sciences (now Health and Human Sciences), and provost/academic vice president of CSU, the first woman to hold that post in CSU’s history.

Gilfoyle’s contributions[3] to the OT profession and AOTA are wide-ranging, including her research with children with disabilities and her leadership in developing a national curriculum to prepare OTs to work in schools. She served as AOTA president from 1986 to 1989. Gilfoyle was also honored for her service to CSU and the College of Health and Human Sciences through the Legacies Project[4], which features former faculty and staff by gathering, archiving and sharing personal and professional histories.

[5]

Anne Fisher

Anne Fisher[6] was professor of OT from 1992 to 2002 at Colorado State University, and she was also named a CSU University Distinguished Professor in 2001. In 2002, she joined the Division of OT in the Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation at Umeå University in Sweden, where she remains a professor emerita since retiring in 2013. AOTA recognized[7] Fisher for her research “on the development of occupation-centered tools that support the implementation of occupation-based and occupation-focused occupational therapy services.” Fisher is known for her development of the Occupational Therapy Intervention Process Model and the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills. She is a CSU OT affiliate faculty member.

[8]

Wendy Wood

Wendy Wood is currently a professor in the CSU Department of Occupational Therapy[9], serving as department head from 2008 to 2014. She stepped down from that role to pursue OT research in equine-assisted therapy as director of research for the Temple Grandin Equine Center in CSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences. Wood was named[10] to the list of 100 Influential People for her professional leadership as a scholar and author, as well as her role as the founder of the AOTA Network for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Concerns in Occupational Therapy, which facilitated a shift to a more inclusive profession.

Jim Hinojosa

After earning his B.S. in OT from CSU, Jim Hinojosa (’73) went on to earn an M.A. from Columbia University and his Ph.D. from New York University. Hinojosa is a professor emeritus[11] in the Department of Occupational Therapy at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, where he retired in 2016 after 25 years. He was selected by AOTA[12] to the 100 Influential People list for his research and his service and mentorship to students and faculty. His service includes many contributions to the professional association, serving on the Commission on Continuing Competence as well as both a member and chair of the Commission on Practice. He served on the Executive Board of the American Occupational Therapy Association and the Board of Directors of the American Occupational Therapy Foundation. Throughout his career, he has been very active in the New York State Occupational Therapy Association. Hinojosa has co-authored 13 major textbooks and published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles.

The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) is the national professional association established in 1917 to represent the interests and concerns of occupational therapy practitioners and students of occupational therapy and to improve the quality of occupational therapy services. Learn more about AOTA’s centennial[13].

The Department of Occupational Therapy[14] is part of CSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences[15].

Source URL: https://source.colostate.edu/colorado-state-university-faculty-alumnus-named-among-top-100-influential-people-ot/

---