Student News
AfterCollege has announced that Marjie Citron of NYU is the recipient of the September 2009 AfterCollege Occupational Therapy Student Scholarship. Marjie is currently a second year student in the MS OT program. Congratulations to Marjie!!
OT Class of 2010 Donated $300 to the Adaptive Design Association
The OT Class of 2010 recently donated $300 to the Adaptive Design Association (www.adaptivedesign.org). This association does wonderful work to assist people in need. They make adaptive equipment and positioning devices, mainly for children with disabilities. OT students had previously spent time at ADA working on creative solutions and building appropriate equipment for kids. Our students gained a memorable experience during their project at the ADA facility, and the Class of 2010 has called attention to this valuable organization through a generous donation.
Congratulations to Shalini D'Souza and So Yeon Ahn (OT Post-Professional program) and their Developing Assistive Technology (E40.2900) classmate, Amanda Bernsohn (Tisch ITP) on their selection as one of nine finalist groups at this year's National Science Foundation sponsored RESNA Student Design Competition. As finalists, the group was invited to present its battery driven, reverse gravity leg bag emptier project at this year's 2009 RESNA conference in New Orleans. Travel was funded by NSF with additional support given by the NYU Tisch ITP program. At the conference, Holly Cohen (Rusk Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine), who currently serves as a Clinical Mentor for the Developing Assistive Technology class also presented a poster highlighting an earlier collaborative Steinhardt OT /Tisch ITP project.
NYU OT Participates in the 2009 NAMI NYC-Metro Walk. On Saturday, May 9, 2009, over a dozen NYU Occupational Therapy students and several NYU OT Alumni joined the NYC team of OT's Walk with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) to fight the stigma of mental illness, and to raise money for educational and support programs of NYC NAMI (http://www.nami.org/). Clad in their student designed purple NYU OT NAMI Walks T-shirts, the group left from the South Street Seaport and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and back again, joining the ranks of OT's from Beth Israel, St. Luke's, Columbia Presbyterian, St. Vincent's, SUNY Downstate, York College, LIU, Stony Brook, and Columbia U. MNYD supplied the banner leading the team of OT's Walk with NAMI. This year's walk netted over $300,000 which was raised by consumers, family, friends, medical professionals, faculty, and students.
Francine Seruya, Gwen Weinstock-Zlotnick, and Mara Cohen Podvey all successfully defended their dissertations in Spring of 2009. Seruya defended "Does Practice Setting Influence the Professional and Organizational Commitment of Pediatric Occupational Therapists," Weinstock-Zlotnick defended "How Occupational Therapists Specializing in Hand Therapy Consider Participation During Initial Evaluation: A Look at Diagnostic Reasoning," and Cohen Podvey defended, "Experiences of Families Who Receive Related Therapy Services as They Transition From Early Intervention to Preschool Special Education.
Tzu-Ying Yu, a Ph.D. candidate in occupational therapy, was awarded the NYU Steinhardt 2009 Dean's Grant for Student Research. This grant will enable Yu to test and confirm the methodology she will use in her final dissertation study, and will ensure that all five measures in her study can be appropriately used. Yu's dissertation will examine the contribution of haptic and kinesthetic perceptions in predicting handwriting legibility and speed in typically developing 6-8 year old children.
Peggy Swarbrick, PhD, OTR, CPRP, received the first-ever Karen Stern Award at the New Jersey Mental Health Partnership conference. She received the award for excellence in research and advocacy relating to mental health issues. Swarbrick is the director of the Institute for Wellness and Recovery Initiatives, Collaborative Support Services of New Jersey, and is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry Rehabilitation and Counseling, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Health Related Professions.
The NYU Steinhardt Department of Occupational Therapy is pleased to announce the 2009 Frieda J. Behlen Occupational Therapy scholarship recipients - Susan Braham, Janelle Carbo, and Razia Khan. These three outstanding students have each been selected to receive a $3,000 tuition award for the summer 2009 semester. Funding for the award is derived from interest earned on the Department's endowed Frieda J. Behlen scholarship fund and also from funds raised by NYU OT alumni.
Gwen Weinstock, a Ph.D. candidate in occupational therapy, received the American Occupational Therapy Foundation Dissertation Research Grant award for 2008. This prestigious award provides financial support for data collection and analysis. Gwen plans to defend her dissertation in the spring of 2009, with Jane Bear Lehman as the Dissertation Chair, and Jim Hinojosa and Sherri Weiser as committee members.
Tien-Ni Wang, a Ph.D. candidate in occupational therapy, earned second prize for her oral presentation at the 27th Annual Conference of the Taiwan Occupational Therapy Association. The paper that Tien-Ni presented was based on a course taken during the winter session of 2008 at NYU Steinhardt on structure equation modeling and factor analysis. Tien-Ni is currently collecting data for her dissertation in Taiwan.
Shu-Yuan Hu and Rita Fleming-Castaldy both successfully defended their dissertations in November of 2007. Hu defended “The Sensory Balance Test as a Screening for Possible Sensory Integration Deficits.” In this study, she investigated the relationship between upper extremity stability and motor accuracy in young children.
Fleming-Castaldy also defended her project, “Consumer-Directed Personal Care Assistance (PCA) and Quality of Life for Persons with Disabilities.” Using a survey design, this study compared the perspectives of persons who use a consumer-directed PCA model to those who use an agency-directed one. The relationships found between self-management and satisfaction with PCA and quality of life support the value of consumer-directed PCA programs for disabled persons
Students Biked for MS on Sunday, October 14, 2007. NYU OT students participated in a charity bike ride benefiting the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS). The MS Bike Tour took riders of all skill levels on routes around the island of Manhattan, with courses ranging between 30 to 100 miles. The NYU team (captained by second-year student Maia Watkins) raised more than $1,300 to support NMSS's educational programs, services, and a national research initiative. Said Assistant Professor Yael Goverover (who also biked in the event), "We would like to thank all the people who supported us by joining our team or donating to this important cause. It is great to know that our students and faculty are involved in community outreach projects."
Joselyn B. Goldstein and Andrea Johnston, students in the Professional M.S. Program, are recipients of Steinhardt’s 2007 Samuel Eshborn Service Award. The Award recognizes graduate students for superlative and extraordinary service work and for displaying the highest standards of leadership in school activities. Goldstein and Johnston were nominated by the Department’s faculty. Congratulations Joselyn and Andrea!