Perspectives Inaugural Issue (Winter 2013)

PERSPECTIVES • WINTER/SPRING 2013 30 OT • FORT LAUDERDALE Last summer, Wendy Stav, Ph.D., OTR/L, SCDCM, FAOTA , joined the College of Health Care Sciences as the new department chair for the Entry-Level Occupational Therapy Program in Fort Lauderdale. Dr. Stav, who is a 2001 graduate of the CHCS’ Doctor of Philosophy in Occupational Therapy Program, was thrilled to be able to return to NSU after 12 years of working professionally in other OT programs. “The opportunity to come back to NSU just felt right, and it felt like I was coming home,” she explained. Dr. Stav first came to NSU in 1996 after earning her bachelor’s de- gree from Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. She then entered the Doctor of Philosophy in Occupational Therapy Program in its first year of existence and “grew with the program as it developed over time,” she explained. ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Dr. Wendy Stav OT Welcomes Home One of its Own Dr. Stav’s very first classes were held in the newly con- structed Terry Building, and she has fond memories of Reba Anderson, Ph.D., OTR/L, FAOTA, the program’s former chair and professor emerita. Dr. Stav considers Dr. Ander- son to be a significant faculty mentor in her life because the conversations she had with Dr. Anderson helped cement her own professional identity. She also recalled there was no Assembly II Building at the time. “When I returned to NSU, I was amazed at how much the HPD had grown over time.” Dr. Stav’s fondest memories of NSU and the Doctor of Philosophy in Occupational Therapy Program are the last- ing friendships she made with the program faculty members while she was here as a student. She recalled how wonderful it was when fellow doctoral OT students and faculty would sit down together for lunch each day and the sense of com- munity she felt. In fact, Dr. Stav even met the woman who would later become her maid of honor: Elysa Roberts, Ph.D., OTR/L. Dr. Stav also commented on how much the technology at NSU has changed, as it now provides students with so many additional resources and ways to engage in scholar- ship. She recalls a time when she would spend hours in the copy room making copies of articles from books in the li- brary and remembers lectures given from overhead projec- tors and carousel slideshows. Today, students have access to immediate online research downloads and multimedia presentations in the classroom. After graduating from the program, Dr. Stav relocated to accept teaching faculty positions at Cleveland State Uni- versity, the University of Florida, and most recently, Tow- son University in Maryland. Over her career, she has built a research base in community mobility and has become a leading expert on issues related to the elderly and their mo- bility issues. In terms of Dr. Stav’s vision for the future of the OT program, she discussed several key ideas, which include growing the number of student scholarships available, in- creasing the recognition of the OT program at the local, state, and national level, and conducting groundbreaking in- terdisciplinary research with other departments in the Col- lege of Health Care Sciences. Today, Dr. Stav is living in Weston, Florida, with her husband, Eli, their daughter, Haley, and an adorable choco- late lab named Gryffindor. “Everything just fell into place to allow me and my husband to make the move back to South Florida,” she said. “The opportunity to come back to NSU just felt right, and it felt like I was coming home.”