University of Kansas Occupational Therapy Education

🎉 Alumni Shoutout! 🎉We are incredibly proud of our recent alumni for continuing to make an impact in the profession through innovation, advocacy, and scholarship!

👏 Caroline Beilman Shearer, OTD, OTR/L (Class of 2025) presented her capstone work at the 2026 AOTA Conference. Her poster, "Accessible Art: Employee Training for Inclusive Leisure Participation," highlights the importance of creating inclusive opportunities for meaningful leisure engagement. Her faculty mentor was Renee Rains, OTD, OTR/L.

👏 Shara Shepard, OTD, OTR/L (Class of 2025) also presented her capstone work at the 2026 AOTA Conference. Her project, "Curves and Connections: Building Resources for Scoliosis Support," focused on developing valuable resources to support individuals and families navigating scoliosis. Her faculty mentor was Becky Glover, OTD, OTR/L, CBIS, LSVT-BIG.

Your dedication, creativity, and commitment to advancing occupational therapy continue to inspire us. Congratulations on sharing your work with the profession on a national stage—we can't wait to see what you accomplish next! 💙🌟

🎉 We are incredibly proud to reshare this exciting recognition and send a huge congratulations to Lauren Foster, OTD, OTR/L on this well-deserved honor! 👏✨ Dr. Foster’s dedication to the occupational therapy profession, passion for teaching, leadership, and unwavering commitment to students and colleagues make a lasting impact every day. 💙 She consistently goes above and beyond to support our department, contribute to the growth of our programs, and advance the profession in meaningful ways.

Dr. Foster brings an incredible level of care, energy, and expertise to everything she does, and her contributions to our department do not go unnoticed. 🌟 We are extremely fortunate and grateful to have her on our team. 🙌 Please join us in congratulating Lauren on this outstanding and well-earned achievement! 🎊🏆

Lauren Foster, OTD/OTR/L, clinical associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy Education and director of the post-professional OTD program, received the 2026 Stata Norton Distinguished Teaching Award during the KU School of Health Professions Hooding and Recognition Ceremony on May 16.

The award recognizes a faculty member for an enthusiastic commitment to teaching, effectively imparting knowledge to students and making outstanding contributions to their profession. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Foster for this recognition!

Exciting publication news! 🎉📚

Congratulations to Lauren Trent, MOT, OTR/L and Caitlin Lisk, Ph.D. and on their recent publication in the journal Prosthetics and Orthotics International!

This narrative review was completed by Lauren as a focused scholarship project, in support of her dissertation work, through the Therapeutic Science PhD program. It was written in collaboration with and mentored by Caitlin. The article examines qualitative studies conducted in the United States exploring the experiences of individuals with upper and/or lower limb loss.

Their review identified several important themes that were consistent across participant experiences and highlighted a significant gap in the literature — there remains a limited amount of qualitative research focused on this specialized population. This work contributes to a growing understanding of patient experiences and the importance of continued research in rehabilitation and limb loss care. 👏

Read the article here: https://journals.lww.com/poijournal/fulltext/9900/experiences_in_rehabilitation_for_individuals_with.431.aspx

CHAMPS Achievers is an adaptive, community-based karate program for children and adults with varying ability levels. The purpose of CHAMPS is to provide participants with an inclusive environment where they can exercise, build social connections, and learn self-defense techniques. CHAMPS is a valuable service-learning site for first-year students because it provides hands-on experience adapting activities, working with the IDD population, and developing leadership and teaching skills. A special thank you to Senseis Jeff Radel and Jim Berger for their continued support of our OT students!

A quote from the OT students placed at CHAMPS this year:

“I’m so grateful I was placed at CHAMPS; it gave me firsthand experience adapting activities and promoting participation. Throughout the year, we developed real connections with the participants, and it was the highlight of my first year of OT school.” - Destiny Bergstresser

"CHAMPS has been an unbelievable experience that I will remember for the rest of my life. It has shown me that growth doesn't always come from big moments, but the small ones too. The participants were amazing every week, and I will cherish those interactions forever.” - Aaron Chen

“I have learned so much from my time at CHAMPS and it is truly an experience I will always value. The connections I have built with the participants are so special to me. Going to CHAMPS every week was the confirmation I needed to know that I am in the right field." - Emma Teply

🥳Congratulations to Dr. Alice Zhang on recently presenting the iKanEat Autism project at the 2026 International Society for Autism Research conference! This poster explored parent and clinician perspectives on feeding challenges in autism, with the goal of informing more effective and accessible parent training approaches for feeding interventions.

Co-authors on the project included Wafaa Alduraidi, MSOT and Lauren Foster, OTD, OTR/L. We are excited to see this important work contributing to the advancement of autism and feeding intervention research!

🥳🙌Congratulations to Sara Shoubaki (TS Ph.D. student), Katharine O’Connor (PPOTD student), Hannah Smith (TS Ph.D. student), Lisa Mische Lawson, Ph.D., CTRS, FDRT, and Caitlin Lisk, Ph.D., adjunct professor, on being accepted to present a poster at the Kansas Occupational Therapy Association (KOTA) conference. Their poster is titled, “Service Learning and Sustainability: A Qualitative Inquiry into Site Mentor Perspectives.”

This project originated from the OTD Qualitative Research course taught by Dr. Lisk last fall. Through the project, students interviewed OT service-learning partners to better understand their perspectives on the sustainability and impact of these collaborative programs. The experience provided valuable hands-on qualitative research training while also fostering meaningful collaboration between PPOTD and TS Ph.D. students.