CATALOG - University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences

In 1996, the Institute of Occupational Therapy was founded to offer a Master of Occupational Therapy(MOT) degree. The MOT degree program commenced September 1997. The program provides a series ofentry-level courses for the first professional degree of occupational therapy. The MOT program wasaccredited with no deficiencies by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE)in April 1999 and was reaccredited in April 2009.On March 4, 1997, the organization formally became the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences.This was a milestone in the University’s development. Also in 1996-97, the University entered into contractsto purchase a small private hospital and an adjoining twenty-six acres of land at the Flagler Health ParkCampus in St. Augustine, thus creating the University’s current St. Augustine, FL physical campus.In July 1999, the University was given authorization by the State Board of Independent Colleges andUniversities (SBICU) to award the transitional Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree, to restructure thecurrent MScPT degree to a Master of Health Sciences (MHSc) degree, and to implement a Doctor of HealthSciences (DHSc) degree. These changes were effective January 1, 2000. Also in 1999, we began the dualdegree option whereby a student may earn a Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT) in six trimesters andthen add an additional four trimesters to achieve a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT). This is the only suchoption in the nation.In August 2000, the University was successful in sponsoring a non-profit foundation, The Foundation forRehabilitation and Movement Sciences, to support faculty and student scholarship.In 2001, the University was given authorization by the Commission for Independent Education to award thefirst professional Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) and Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD), and thepost-professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD).In 2003, the university began to offer the manual physical therapy fellowship which was approved by theAmerican Physical Therapy Association (APTA) as a credentialed fellowship in orthopaedic manual therapyin 2003 and re-credentialed in 2008.The University received accreditation and licensure in 2004 to begin a Flexible Doctor of Physical Therapyprogram in Boca Raton, Florida. The Flexible Doctor of Physical Therapy program is accredited by theCommission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy (CAPTE) and the Distance Education and TrainingCouncil (DETC). It is an expansion of the campus based program in St. Augustine and takes twelvetrimesters consisting of online education and weekend labs. The Flexible Doctor of Physical Therapyprogram was moved from Boca Raton to the St. Augustine campus in 2010.In June 2006, the University broke ground on a 98,000 square foot academic and clinic building at the St.Augustine campus. The building was completed in August 2007. Amenities include seven classrooms,separate wet and dry anatomy labs, fitness center, occupational therapy clinic, physical therapy clinic, CPEclassroom, and 3rd floor heritage lounge.The University received approval from the Bureau for Private, Post-secondary and Vocational Education andCommission for the Accreditation of Physical Therapy Education to begin an expansion DPT program in SanDiego, CA in 2007. This campus officially opened August 29, 2007. The San Diego campus began offeringthe Flexible Doctor of Physical Therapy program in September 2008.Dr. Stanley Paris, Founding President, retired on August 4, 2007, and Dr. Michael Hillyard, DPA wasinaugurated in as the 2 nd President of the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences. The universitycelebrated the opening of the academic and clinic building along with the retirement of Dr. Paris and theinauguration of Dr. Hillyard. In 2009, Dr. Hillyard resigned and Dr. Paris resumed the Presidency of theUniversity.4