Dialogue to Establish an OTA Honor Society

Next Conference Call

2009-10-06T08:12:00.000-07:00

The next planning meeting will take place via conference call:

Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 4:00 PM EST

Jessica Halterman will be emailing everyone the dial-in instructions. We look forward to your participation!

Jeanne Y. Cooper
AOTF

Next Conference Call

2009-09-11T11:02:00.000-07:00

Good Afternoon All!

The next planning meeting will take place via conference call:

Thursday, September 17th at 4:00 PM EST

Jessica Halterman will be emailing everyone the dial-in instructions in the coming days. We look forward to your participation!

Jeanne Y. Cooper, AOTF

Thoughts on a GPA Requirement

2009-07-30T05:37:00.000-07:00

I think that a 3.5 GPA may be slightly too low. Although it is commendable in our program, we need to find an agreement that no more than 5% of our students would be able to meet, right? I am not for a 4.0 but maybe something more like 3.7?? Just a thought.
Claudia Miller, OTA Program Chair
Cincinnati State Technical and Community College

Eligibility Items for Review

2009-07-30T05:32:00.000-07:00

We require marketing and promoting awareness of OT as well: presenting at health fairs, promoting OT at various functions (Arthritis Walk - how can OT assist or improve the quality of life for those with arthritis), etc. Backpack awareness, etc.
Linda Orr

More Updates on Service Ideas for Eligibility

2009-07-29T12:16:00.000-07:00

Ideas for service
Since we are trying to foster leadership early in a student’s career we should include beyond the SOTA Clubs.
1. Service as an officer of the program OTA club
2. Service in activities conducted by the club (needs to be more than one time)
3. Service as the OTA Program Representative to ASD/ASD Officer
4. Service on State OT Associations (needs to be more than a one time task should be board member or committee work/conference committee that involves more than 2 meetings)
5. Service in local, county or state community programs that relate to health, education or social programs that have relationship to populations OTs work with.

Any other ideas / rewording or thoughts on the above. Teri Black COTA ROH

Feedback from the "Eligibility" Committee

2009-07-23T10:03:00.000-07:00

I have attached a discussion that we are having to create eligibility requirements for the OTA Honor Society. Members of our team are Michelle Shepherd, Teresa Black, Linda Orr and myself. Please feel free to comment or add to our discussion:

Hi everyone! Hopefully you’re having a restful summer.
I have been thinking that we need to make some progress with regard to our duties on the committee for the Honor Society and wondered if we can compile some information that I will post onto the blog this week.
Our charge is to develop eligibility requirements so we need to talk about a few things to start:
1) What would a minimum GPA look like?
3.5 GPA
2) How would we word “service” requirements to be above and beyond those required in the standards for each program?
Be active in the SOTA organization at the campus…and
3) Do we need to consider when the student is eligible? Ie. can they be eligible before they take their Intro to OTA course?
I think that they could be eligible at any time since they typically only have 2 years of school and some of that is gone on fieldwork. How about they have to been in school for one semester or two quarters?
4) Would there be some sort of “recommendation” process through letters, etc to become eligible?
I like the idea of recommendation or maybe a letter from someone whose life this person has touched?
We talked about a service component to set them apart from only the GPA requirement but what other features do you see that would make this truly an “honor” to be a part of? Remember, we need criteria that would set them within the top 5-10% of their class (or what percentage are we looking for?).
Any feedback??
We need to submit our progress by Aug 1 and I will be gone that week so let’s get some ideas rolling so that we can move forward before the busy academic year begins for the fall! Thanks.
Claudia

Next Conference Call

2009-06-24T09:18:00.000-07:00

Greetings All

We have the majority of committee members available to participate on a follow up OTA honor Society Development conference call on

Thursday, August 20th at 4:00 pm.

At this time everyone should have received several comments emails sharing OTA program information and preferences on development of Option I, II and III. Thank you for taking the time to express your thoughts. In addition I have provided a list of all participants and your committee assignment. I have also include your contact information so that you can get started as smaller groups. It might be a good ideas to assign one member from each committee to serve as the "spokesperson or chair" for the group. Please make sure that individual can be available to report your group work during the call. Also I would appreciate hearing from you if you are the designated chair. Good Luck and please let me know how I can continue to support you all in this process.

Please place August 20 at 4:00pm on your calendar. As we get closer to the date of the call please expect an agenda and confrence call dial in - instrucitons via email.

Sincerely,

Jessica Halterman, AOTF

INAUGURAL PLANNING MEETING: OTA HONOR SOCIETY

2009-06-24T09:01:00.000-07:00

FEEDBACK FROM THE INAUGURAL PLANNING MEETING

The comments below are directly copied responses sent to Jessica Halterman following the first conference call for the planning of the first OTA Honor Society. They have been posted here for convenience and archival purposes. Additional comments are encouraged.

As subcommittees begin their work, we are happy to facilitate the posting of specific threads for the subcommittees. This will help to focus comments around specific areas, including structure, standards, naming, governance and recruitment/induction of founding members.

Thanks to Everyone For A Terrific First Meeting!

2009-06-19T16:10:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone for a very productive meeting! We at AOTF are very excited about the prospect of beginning an honor society for OTA and it would not be possible without the creativity and commitment of leaders like you!

I am grateful to Jessica Halterman and Melissa Oliver for sharing their wisdom and experience with Pi Theta Epsilon. This gives us a giant head start!

If you have not done so, please be sure to send an email to Jessica at jhalterm@aol.com with your name, affiliation, committee preferences and further ideas about names, structure standards and other matters that may be germane to the discussion.

We pledge to work with you to create a sustainable society that recognizes leading students, and serves as a means for promoting excellence, service and pride among occupational therapy assistant students, educators and practitioners! Check our website at www.aotf.org for a press release on this initiative next week.

If I can be of assistance in any way, please do not hesitate to call me at 301-652-6611 ext 2551.

Thanks again!

Chuck Christiansen
Executive Director, AOTF
cchristiansen@aotf.org

Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) honor society

2009-06-18T08:24:00.000-07:00

AOTF welcomes your thoughts about the envisioned OTA honor society. Please share your thoughts with us...