The ACAPT Diversity Task Force was created in January 2013 and was charged with defining under-represented minorities (URM) in physical therapist education and affirming a rationale for promoting a diverse student population and workforce in physical therapy. The need for this task force arose because it was evident physical therapist education and practice had fallen short of meeting the benchmark of representation of the general population. The ACAPT Diversity Task Force met 16 times since January 2013, including 13 web conferences and 3 onsite meetings: 2013 Combined Sections Meeting in San Diego, CA; and APTA Headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia on July 24-25, 2014 and November 14-15, 2015. One major accomplishment of the task force that you may be aware of is the development of the URM definition and its subsequent adoption by ACAPT and APTA House of Delegates. We are happy to present the final report of the Diversity Task Force that makes several recommendations that ACAPT, APTA and individual programs can take to promote diversity within our profession. The ACAPT Board of Directors will work with APTA and the Education Section as part of the recently formed Steering committee to move forward on the recommendations from this report. We would like to thank the members of the Diversity Task Force and APTA staff for their work in providing such a comprehensive report whose implementation we believe will help us realize a more diverse student population and workforce in physical therapy.
Task Force Members:
- Bernadette Williams-York (Alabama State University) Chair
- Salome Brooks (Springfield College)
- Jesus Dominguez (University of Southern California)
- Zoher Kapasi (Emory University) ACAPT Board Liaison
- Victoria Moerchen (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
- Denise Wise (The College of St. Scholastica)
Staff Liaison:
Additional Staff:
- Johnette Meadows (APTA)
- Sandy Rossi (ACAPT)