The Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship Award

Spirit of the Award

The spirit of the Slagle Award reflects Eleanor Clarke Slagle’s enduring legacy of leadership, vision, and commitment to the advancement of occupational therapy. It honors individuals whose work has moved the profession forward, those who challenged existing assumptions, introduced new ways of thinking or practicing, and shared their insights broadly for the benefit of the profession and the people it serves.

This award is not intended to recognize excellent performance alone, but rather those whose contributions created meaningful and lasting change. The Slagle Award celebrates individuals whose work continues to inform practice, education, policy, or public understanding of occupational therapy long after its initial introduction.

Description and Purpose

• To recognize an occupational therapist (OT) or occupational therapy assistant (OTA) who has made substantial and lasting contributions to the advancement of occupational therapy’s body of knowledge.
• To honor a member of the Association whose work has introduced, refined, or significantly advanced theory, practice models, standards, or methods that influence the profession.
• To acknowledge innovations that enhance services to consumers, strengthen professional practice, and promote understanding and recognition of occupational therapy.
• To enable the profession to benefit from new knowledge, influential perspectives, and developments that have been widely shared and applied.

Criteria

All criteria must be met for a nomination to be considered. Nominations are evaluated based on the significance, scope, and lasting influence of the nominee’s contributions.

Sustained Dissemination and Commitment

• The nominee has made a substantial contribution that advanced how occupational therapy is understood, practiced, taught, or evaluated.
• Contributions may be clinical, educational, theoretical, or scholarly, but must represent innovation or advancement, not solely high-quality execution of existing practices.
• Contributions may include, but are not limited to:
• Development or refinement of professional philosophy, theory, or conceptual frameworks
• Creation of practice models, assessment tools, intervention approaches, or standards that have been adopted beyond the nominee’s own setting
• Transformative clinical innovations that informed broader practice, education, or policy
• Influential research or synthesis that shaped professional thinking or directions
• Contributions must demonstrate impact at a programmatic, population, organizational, or profession-wide level, not solely individual clinical outcomes.

Organizational or Leadership Contribution

• Volunteer leadership or service within professional organizations, editorial boards, standards committees, accreditation bodies, or similar entities may be considered when it supports dissemination or advancement of the nominee’s contributions.
• Leadership alone does not substitute for a significant contribution to the profession’s body of knowledge but may strengthen a nomination.

What Does Not Qualify Alone

Excellence in clinical practice, organizational service, or professional leadership alone does not meet the criteria for the Slagle Award. Single publications, presentations, projects, or initiatives without evidence of sustained influence or broader adoption are insufficient on their own. Length of career, reputation, position, or institutional affiliation will not be considered indicators of merit by themselves. Nominations must demonstrate substantial, innovative contributions that have measurably advanced the profession’s body of knowledge and have been disseminated and applied beyond the nominee’s immediate setting. Reviewer committees will not infer impact without clear documentation of lasting influence on practice, education, theory, standards, or professional understanding.