University of Southern California

Redesigning Lives. The Future of Healthcare

Master of Arts in Occupational Therapy: The One Year Program for the Practicing Therapist

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We appreciate your interest in our program and are pleased that you are considering joining the globally-connected community of occupational therapists who have pursued graduate degrees through our Division. In 1947, the Division officially established the world’s first Post-Professional Master of Arts degree program, and for over 60 years its faculty has been perfecting the curriculum to meet the highest educational expectations of occupational therapists worldwide. Today, the Master of Arts program for practitioners has been redesigned to support the Centennial Vision of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA): by the year 2017, occupational therapy will be a “powerful, widely recognized, scientifically-driven and evidence-based profession with a globally connected and diverse workforce meeting society’s occupational needs.”

As you learn about our Division and the program of study we offer, you will find that it contains all that other programs have and much more. You will discover that the coursework is informed by the robust National Institutes of Health research programs based in our Division, studying areas of health disparities, rehabilitation science and aging, as well as our other extramurally funded research in sensory integration, autism and neuroscience. You will be dazzled by the extensive menu of electives we offer. Our program gives you tremendous choice and the ability to customize your course of study in accord with your interests. Whether you wish to develop greater expertise in Lifestyle Redesign®, sensory integration, school-based practice, enhancing motor control, research methods and advances, technology, universal design, hand therapy, dysphagia, entrepreneurism or virtually any other practice specialty, either through our Division or the university-at-large, you’ll find the courses to secure your vision of professional satisfaction. And, finally, our program will position you for success in our globally-connected world. USC boasts the largest international pool of graduate students in the United States. The Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy not only has a high enrollment of international master’s students but also has tailored its coursework as well as its out-of-classroom experiences to be responsive to the needs and challenges of both American and international students. Our post-professional master’s program is designed to expand the tradition of USC academic excellence globally by providing our students with a culturally-sensitive, stimulating and intellectually-broadening community.

You will see that our Post-Professional Master of Arts degree program has a special luster, and we carefully designed our curriculum to meet your needs as a global, 21st century practitioner. Through graduate studies at USC, you will systematically reflect on and enhance your expertise and practice, become informed of novel ways in which to perform, execute and receive feedback and guidance from a community of peers and scholars. You will be submerged in an educational experience from which you will gain new inspirations, insights and a tremendous sense of confidence to explore the many growing and pioneering areas occupational therapy offers its practitioners. Upon entering our community of international scholars, you will develop new tools and capacities for success.

This information is for the individual who is a certified or board eligible occupational therapist or an international therapist who has graduated from a WFOT approved program. If you have a bachelor’s degree other than occupational therapy, please ask for our M.A.-2 (entry level) on the menu bar to the left.