States with established or developing COTAD Chapters.

Within the past six months, the COTAD Diversity Liaision program has grown tremendously. COTAD Chapters now exist at OT programs across the country, from California to Missouri to Tennessee!

COTAD is passionate about creating a diverse occupational therapy workforce, and that starts in large part with the OT students who are learning how to be culturally aware and interact with clients of diverse sociocultural backgrounds. Our vision for the COTAD Chapters program is mobilizing the energy, interest, and skills of current OT/A students to help educate and equip peers, faculty, and others with the knowledge, resources, and skills necessary to “maximize health, well-being, and quality of life for all people, populations, and communities through effective solutions that facilitate participation in everyday living.” (AOTA, 2017).

The following list includes OT/A programs across the country that have formed COTAD Chapters as of October 2017 and their primary student facilitator(s).

• Whitney Harris - West Coast University

• Lucia Solano - Abilene Christian University

• Leslie Williams - Cincinnati State Technical and Community College

• Sarah Spreckelmeier - Nova Southeastern University

• Lindy Weaver - Ohio State University

• Jonette Ishmael - Thomas Jefferson University

• Natalia Ardila, Emily Sherman, & An Nguyen - Washington University in St. Louis

• Lauren Newman - University of Tennessee Health Science Center

• Elle Russell - Shenandoah University

If you are an OT student who is passionate about promoting diversity on campus and in your community (and beyond!), email COTAD Vice Chair Dr. Arameh Anvarizadeh for more information at anvariza@gmail.com to learn more about how to bring COTAD to your campus.