Taking on the Challenge of the Centennial Vision: Transforming the Passion for Occupational Therapy into a Passion for Leadership

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe Centennial Vision makes it clear that the profession of occupational therapy is facing challenges that require members to move beyond clinical excellence toward larger health care initiatives (American Occupational Therapy Association, 2007). Accomplishing this goal requires the development of professionals with leadership skills. The focus of the doctorate in occupational therapy at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) hits this mark. In this paper, we describe the development process of a postprofessional occupational therapy doctorate focused on building leaders. To exemplify putting the Centennial Vision in action through education, we describe courses and content, and offer examples of the capstone leadership project and data describing students' experiences with becoming leaders.