Occupational Science Symposium

Thank you to all alumni, students, faculty, and community partners who attended the 23rd USC Occupational Science Symposium. Read a summary of the event on USC News at: Autism Symposium Highlighted By Personal Experiences.

Save the Date 2013

Save Thursday, November 7th, 2013, for the 24th USC Occupational Science Symposium. Details here as they become available. For inquiries, please contact Emily Ochi .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

History

The Occupational Science Symposium was established at the University of Southern California in 1988 as a forum to disseminate and celebrate the then-emerging academic discipline of Occupational Science. In the decades since, the Symposium has become the Division’s premier academic event at which interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners gather to exchange their scholarship and together propel forward the field of Occupational Science. Notable past speakers at the USC Occupational Science Symposium have included former USC and National Football League quarterback, author, and advocate for persons with autism spectrum disorders Rodney Peete, primatologist, ethologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall, theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking, and neuroscientist and scientific philosopher António Damásio.

Wilma West Lecture

At the Symposium, USC also awards the Wilma West Lecture, a recognition of a scholar’s distinguished contributions to Occupational Science. Wilma West was an undisputed leader in occupational therapy. She was Head of orthopedic occupational therapy at Walter Reed General Hospital from 1943 to 1944. As a USC student, in 1946, Wilma West was the first person in the country to receive a master’s degree in occupational therapy. From 1960 to 1964, she served as President of the American Occupational Therapy Association. In 1967, she received the Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship, the highest academic award of the American Occupational Therapy Association, and delivered her lecture entitled “Professional Responsibility in Times of Change”. The Wilma L. West Library, the American Occupational Therapy Association’s extensive collection of resources including monographs, journals, dissertations, theses, conference proceedings and multimedia, is named in her honor. The AOTA and AOTF Presidents’ Commendation in honor of Wilma L. West, established jointly by the governing Boards of both the American Occupational Therapy Association and the American Occupational Therapy Foundation, is an award given to honor a respected leader of the profession who has made sustained contributions to occupational therapy over a lifetime of service.

Previous Symposia

XXIII. Autism in Everyday Life: Interdisciplinary Research Perspectives at USC
  March 9, 2012
  Keynote Speaker: Catherine Lord
  Wilma West Lecturer: Susan Knox

XXII. USC’s Science of Everyday Living: A Foundation for Ethical, Culturally Sensitive, & Evidence-Based Practice
  March 27, 2010
  Keynote Speaker: William Morgan
  Wilma West Lecturer: Sharon Cermak

XXI. The Intersection of Self and Context: The Changing Landscape of Rehabilitation Science
  March 27, 2009
  Keynote Speaker: Jin-Shen Lai
  Wilma West Lecturer: Lena Borrell

XX. Autism in Everyday Life: An Interdisciplinary Venture
  March 7, 2008
  Keynote Speaker: Sally J. Rogers
  Wilma West Lecturer: Grace Baranek

XIX. Health and Wellness: Interdisciplinary and Global Connections
  March 29 and March 30, 2007
  Keynote Speaker: Carol Ryff
  Wilma West Lecturer: Hans Jonsson

XVIII. Intersecting Interests in Health Care: Occupational Science and Interdisciplinary Collaboration
  March 3, 2006
  Keynote Speaker: Carolee Winstein
  Wilma West Lecturer: Linda Tickle-Degnan

XVII. The Brain, Emotion, and Occupation
  February 18, 2005
  Keynote Speaker: António Damásio
  Wilma West Lecturer: Ruth Zemke

XVI. Creating an Academic Discipline that Supports Practice
  January 16, 2004
  Keynote Speaker: Andrew Abbott
  Wilma West Lecturer: Zoe Mailloux

XV. The Spheres of Rehabilitation: Body, Mind, and Social Structures
  January 17, 2003
  Keynote Speaker: Margaret G. Stineman
  Wilma West Lecturer: Betty R Hasselkus

XIV. Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy: The Making of Community
  January 26, 2002
  Keynote Speaker: Charlene Haddock Seigfried
  Wilma West Lecturer: Mary Law

XIII. The Biological Basis of Occupation
  October 26 and October 27, 2000
  Keynote Speaker: Ann Neville-Jan
  Wilma West Lecturer: Lela Llorens

XII. The Engaged Self
  September 30 and October 1, 1999
  Keynote Speaker: Eliot Mishler
  Wilma West Lecturer: David Nelson

XI. Play: Occupations for a Lifetime
  March 20, 1998
  Keynote Speaker: Brian Sutton-Smith
  Wilma West Lecturer: Anita Brady

X. Narrative and Identity
  March 21, 1997
  Keynote Speaker: Jerome Bruner
  Wilma West Lecturer: James Papai

IX. Occupation in the Everyday Lives of Children
  April 12, 1996
  Keynote Speaker: Wendy Coster
  Wilma West Lecturer: Elizabeth J. Yerxa

VIII. Toward a Philosophy of Occupation
  March 31, 1995
  Keynote Speaker: Stephen E. Toulmin
  Wilma West Lecturer: Ann Wilcock

VII. Promoting Children’s Well-Being: Occupational Science and Health Care Policy
  April 5, 1994
  Keynote Speaker: Thomas Weisner
  Wilma West Lecturer: Mary Foto

VI. Narrative and Action
  April 14, 1993
  Keynote Speaker: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
  Wilma West Lecturer: Lela Llorens

V. The Links Between Occupation Science and Occupational Therapy: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
  September 25, 1992
  Keynote Speaker: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
  Wilma West Lecturer: Charles Christiansen

IV. The Human as an Occupational Being: The Link Between Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy
  June 22 and June 23, 1991
  Keynote Speaker: Mary Catherine Bateson
  Wilma West Lecturer: Linda Florey

III. Ecology and Occupation
  June 4, 1990
  Keynote Speaker: Stephen Hawking
  Wilma West Lecturer: Ann Henderson

II. Co-Occupations of Infants and Mothers
  April 28, 1989
  Keynote Speaker: Jane Goodall
  Wilma West Lecturer: Janice Burke

I. Perspectives on Early Intervention and Adolescent Transitions
  May 19 and May 20, 1988
  Keynote Speaker: Florence Clark
  Wilma West Lecturer: Nedra P. Gillette