Physical therapy doctorate approved

Students enrolled in WCU’s master’s degree program in physical therapy practice using a goniometer to measure range of motion. The master’s program will be expanded into a doctoral-level program expected to begin enrolling students in fall 2011.

Western Carolina University has been authorized to establish a doctor of physical therapy degree program, and university officials hope to begin enrolling students by fall 2011 to help the region deal with a continuing need for more clinicians in that field.

The DPT will be WCU’s second doctoral-level program. The university already offers a doctor of education degree in educational leadership.

The University of North Carolina Board of Governors gave its permission earlier this month for WCU to expand its current master’s degree program in physical therapy into a doctoral program. WCU’s master’s program graduated its first class in 1998. Since then, about two-thirds of the program’s graduates have accepted entry-level jobs in North Carolina, and about one-third of the graduates have taken jobs in the 16 westernmost counties of North Carolina, said Karen Lunnen, head of WCU’s physical therapy department.

“The need for physical therapists persists, especially to serve the elderly who continue to find Western North Carolina to be an ideal retirement destination,” Lunnen said. “WCU’s new health sciences building, which is currently under construction, will accommodate an expanded doctor of physical therapy program, and with its new clinical space and unique opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration, it will help us address the goals of UNC Tomorrow.”

UNC Tomorrow, the UNC system’s 20-year strategic plan that addresses North Carolina’s needs and how its public universities can help meet those needs, calls on UNC system schools “to lead in improving the health and wellness of all people and communities in our state.” Implementing the doctor of physical therapy program is one of the university’s goals in responding to that mandate, Lunnen said.

 The nationwide trend for physical therapy education over the past decade has been for programs to transition to the doctoral-level, and establishment of the doctor of physical therapy at WCU will allow the university’s graduates to continue to be competitive in the job market. Also, the transition is needed for WCU’s program to remain accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education, Lunnen said.

Students who enroll in WCU’s doctoral program will have to meet the same admission requirements as for the master’s program, which is a bachelor’s degree in a related field and completion of prerequisite courses in subjects such as human anatomy, physiology, chemistry, physics and statistics.

WCU’s master’s program is a 24-month course of study that includes a total of 78 credit hours and 26 weeks of full-time supervised clinical education. Students who earn the doctoral degree will complete a 33-month program with a total of 104 credit hours and 34 weeks of full-time clinical education, Lunnen said. A group of students will begin the program each August and progress together until they reach graduation.

For more information about WCU’s physical therapy program, contact Lunnen at 828-227-2191 or klunnen@wcu.edu.