The First and Finest

Alumni, Arches

In marking the program’s 80th anniversary, School of Occupational Therapy colleagues reflect on the innovative program and how its ongoing cultivation of core values has kept it at the forefront of the field.

One of the fondest memories that George Tomlin ’82 had in supervising the pediatric clinic in the University of Puget Sound’s School of Occupational Therapy took place after OT students started working with a 7-year-old boy who was blind.

“He had come to the clinic and was afraid to move, or to do practically anything,” remembers Tomlin, an emeritus professor who taught in the program for 38 years before retiring in 2022. “But at the end of the semester, his mom came in to observe, and she was astounded. He was going through obstacle courses, crawling through nylon tunnels, and going up and over ladders—skills developed through the one-on-one intensive work twice a week with our students.”

As the School of Occupational Therapy marks its 80th anniversary this year, culminating with a celebration during Summer Reunion Weekend in June 2025, those who helped build it into a nationally recognized program are reflecting on its development over the decades. Some parts of the OT program have changed significantly, such as the classrooms that once were found in the pink barracks on the west end of campus that now have moved to the state-of-the-art Weyerhaeuser Hall. But core aspects of the program—a focus on hands-on learning, outstanding faculty, innovative curriculum development, and a commitment to clients—have remained constant.

The OT program was established in 1944 and was the first of its kind in the region. Today, it has more than 2,000 alumni and offers three programs: a master’s degree, a doctorate, and a post-professional doctorate. It is continually one of the top-ranked OT programs in the Pacific Northwest according to U.S. News & World Report (and in the top 15% across the country), and its commitment to the liberal arts and to experiential learning have distinguished it from the start.

“I always took pride in the program’s ability to implement liberal arts ideals,” says Tomlin. When students would go out into the community for fieldwork, supervisors would tell him the students were “not afraid to put their hands on patients, could think on their feet, and were excellent writers,” Tomlin recalls.

“That is exactly what we want to have—someone who can think critically, quickly, confidently; who can write clearly; and who has that confidence in interacting with people.”

Learning by Doing

Occupational Therapy Driving Lab — Students in the School of Occupational Therapy have benefited from experiential learning opportunities since the program’s launch in 1944. They’ve provided therapeutic activities to foster physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development in patients of all ages.

OT students retrofit toys to be more accessible. — Students in the School of Occupational Therapy have benefited from experiential learning opportunities since the program’s launch in 1944. They’ve provided therapeutic activities to foster physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development in patients of all ages.

Historical photo of OT students experiencing hands-on learning, circa 1951. — Students in the School of Occupational Therapy have benefited from experiential learning opportunities since the program’s launch in 1944. They’ve provided therapeutic activities to foster physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development in patients of all ages.

In the early days, Puget Sound OT students worked in tuberculosis sanatoriums and with recently returned World War II veterans. In the 1950s and 1960s, they provided therapeutic activities to foster physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development in children. Today, they work with patients of all ages, both those in the community as well as with those who come to the on-campus clinics in Weyerhaeuser Hall.

A hallmark of the program has been curriculum development, including the Sociocultural Awareness Workshop developed by Juli McGruder P’98, who began teaching courses in mental health treatment and in physical rehabilitation in 1979.

“In the 1980s, through personal experience in my multiracial family, professional experience in rehab settings, and my reading and research, I became increasingly aware of and concerned about racial inequities in health care,” McGruder says. She started adding one assignment to a physical rehabilitation course that asked students to observe service protocols at health and welfare agencies and to write about their observations. She asked the students to put themselves somewhere where they would not ordinarily go, with people they typically would not spend time with.

Over time, that single assignment has grown into half of a course. By 2018, it was half of the Occupations Across the Lifespan course co-taught by Kirsten Wilbur PMOT ’85, MSOT ’08, P’17, P’20 and McGruder, and today it is part of OT 602, Health and Occupation Across Diverse Populations.

“That teaching from its inception was aimed at helping therapy professionals become actively anti-racist, culturally humble, anti-homophobic practitioners,” McGruder says. Some students published or presented their semester-long social-awareness projects as well. “Instigating, designing and teaching social awareness was the most meaningful part of my growth as an academic at Puget Sound,” says McGruder, who taught full-time for 30 years and part-time an additional 10 years.

This ongoing attention to core values is a point of pride for the program, and is expected to guide it in the future. “In another 20, 40, or 80 years, we envision the OT program to be the premier educational program in the western United States for all students who are interested in becoming occupational therapists, regardless of their means or their backgrounds,” says Renee Watling, the school’s director.

To accomplish this, Watling says the school will continue to offer master’s and doctoral programs, welcome frequent engagement of practicing therapists as partners in the educational experiences of students, and engage students in meeting the needs of the local community through their pediatric, behavioral health, and adult teaching clinics.

“Ours was the first OT program in the state,” adds Watling, “and we aim to be the finest for years to come.”

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