Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1944 [PAGE 449]

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446

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[July 28

trict, did sponsor and promote in the General Assembly an Act to increase the working cash fund of the University, thus making it possible for the University to meet its payrolls and other current obligations more promptly; therefore be it Resolved, that the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois does hereby voice its appreciation and thanks to the sponsors of Senate Bill 558 for their public-spirited support and assistance of the University, and does instruct its Secretary to send a copy of this resolution to each one of the sponsors. CURRICULUM IN OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY (16) T h e University Senate recommends the establishment of a curriculum in Occupational Therapy leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy. The need for trained occupational therapists is already great and will become increasingly greater as more and more disabled men return from the war. T h e establishment of this curriculum has been urged by the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Public Welfare and has also been recommended by the University Committee on Rehabilitation. T h e work is divided among five semesters at Urbana, spent in acquiring the basic information and skills needed by the therapist, the equivalent of three semesters at the College of Medicine in Chicago, where the student is given the medical background for hospital work and a considerable amount of clinical experience in hospitals, and one interne semester of practical clinical work at tuberculosis and psychiatric hospitals. Occupational Therapy is to be distinguished from Physical Therapy. The occupational therapist, working always under the direction of doctors, teaches the patient various handicrafts and skills, not with a view to making him proficient in a craft, but solely with a view to rebuilding muscular actions and morale. If a patient shows an aptitude for a craft, his professional training is given elsewhere. The therapist must have some knowledge of a considerable number of crafts; the medical knowledge extends only to understanding conditions under which the therapist works in hospitals and the diagnoses and directions of medical superiors. T h e therapist is not a nurse. It is proposed to place this curriculum in the Department of Art, because this kind of work is more closely related to art than to any other subject, and because the University has been so advised by several authorities. An expert in the field of Occupational Therapy education will be employed, at the rank o£ Associate Professor, as Educational Director. She will be largely occupied in coordinating the work at Urbana and Chicago. T h e following curriculum is proposed. Eleven of the courses at Urbana are new (indicated by an asterisk) ; all the courses at Chicago are new. The Chicago part of the curriculum has been worked out by the Executive Dean and a committee of the College of Medicine, and has their approval. The accrediting agent is the American Medical Association, whose requirements are met by the proposed curriculum. AT URBANA

First Y e a r First Semester Hours Art 25—Art F o r m 5 Rhet. 1—Rhetoric and Composition 3 Physiol. 1—Mammalian Physiology 3 H o m e Econ.—Needle Craft, Clothing* 3 Hygiene (Elementary) 2 P.E.W _! Total 17 Second Semester Art 26—Art F o r m (continued) 5 Rhet. 2—Rhetoric and Composition 3 Hygiene—Health Factors and First Aid* 2 Physiol. 33—Human Anatomy, Special Reference to Motion and Locomotion* 3 L.A.—Gardening and Landscape* 3 P.E.W _± Total 17