Faculty Development Scholarship Award

This is an annual award offered by the PT Fund to faculty pursuing a post-professional doctoral degree who demonstrate a commitment to further the physical therapy profession through teaching, research, and impactful community engagement.

Eligibility Criteria

Nominees must be:

• Physical therapist members in good standing of the association and full-time faculty members, teaching in an accredited or developing professional physical therapist education program, who at the time the award is presented will have completed a minimum of two full semesters or three full quarters of post-professional doctoral course work in an accredited post-professional doctoral program. Possess a current license to practice physical therapy in a U.S. jurisdiction or have met all the requirements for licensure in a U.S. jurisdiction.
• Demonstrate a commitment to further the physical therapy profession through teaching, research, and impactful community engagement.

Criteria for Selection

Nominees must demonstrate:

• A commitment to advancing and positively impacting community engagement in underserved and rural areas, social drivers of health, and community needs assessment and services.
• Academic excellence.
• Dedication and service to the profession and association.

A strong application should demonstrate the following:

• Honors and awards received.
• Demonstrated leadership (association, professional, or other, including offices held, etc.).
• Mentoring.
• Commitment to excellence in education, physical therapy research, and scholarly activities (e.g., publications, presentations).
• Contributions to underserved or rural populations.
• Any additional activities related to professional or community service.
• Essay that demonstrates self-reflection, passion, ability to organize thoughts, and authenticity.
• Support statements that are positive, cite specific examples of professional accomplishments, and provide additional information on depth, scope, and quality in a convincing manner.

Submission Requirements

Nomination or self-nomination statement must be submitted to begin the process.

The following must be submitted by the nominee:

• Current curriculum vitae or resume of the nominee
• Completed online application
• Three support statements obtained from the following:
  • The PT program director
  • Faculty advisor or chair of the dissertation committee
  • An individual who can verify your contributions to underserved or rural populations.
• Plan of study for attaining the graduate degree. When appropriate, include dates of the comprehensive examination; admission to candidacy; approval of overview of research project; and defense of thesis, dissertation, or equivalent requirement.

PT Student and PTA Student Awards

This award recognizes physical therapist and physical therapist assistant students currently in their final academic year of an accredited program who are pursuing a career path of impactful community engagement.

Student nominees must complete all degree requirements (clinical and didactic) and/or be eligible to graduate between Sept. 1 of the current year and Dec. 1 of the following year.

Eligibility Requirements

Nominees must be:

• Physical therapist students or physical therapist assistant students who are current members in good standing of the association and by the start of the annual APTA Honors & Awards Program nomination process, are enrolled in the final year of study in a CAPTE-accredited PT or PTA program (or for PTA programs with a part-time curriculum, the final year of the curriculum), based on each institution's determination of the minimum number of credit hours required for final year status, and are within 12 months of completing all requirements for graduation from the program in which they are enrolled.
• Demonstrate potential for superior achievements in the profession of physical therapy, as well as professional excellence as a physical therapist or physical therapist assistant.

Criteria for Selection

Nominees must demonstrate:

• A commitment to advancing and positively impacting community engagement in underserved or rural areas, social drivers of health, and community needs assessment and services.
• Academic excellence.
• Dedication and service to the profession and association.

A strong application should demonstrate the following:

Honors and awards received:

• Academic honors, awards, scholarships, societies, etc.
• Nonacademic honors, awards, scholarships, societies, etc.

Community service that contributes to underserved or rural populations:

• Volunteer community service not required by program
• Volunteer community service required by program
• Professional service activities (APTA activities, meetings, committees, etc.)
• Other service activities (e.g., within university)

Presentations and publications

Volunteer non-PT activities

Past and present activities not identified elsewhere

Strong student essay

Strong GPA

Support statements that are positive, cite specific examples of professional accomplishments, and provide additional information on depth, scope, and quality in a convincing manner.

Submission Requirements

Nomination or self-nomination statement must be submitted to begin the process.

The following must be submitted by the nominee:

• Completed online application
• A personal essay outlining professional goals and service that contributes to underserved or rural populations (beyond what is required by the academic program)
• Three support statements obtained from the following:
  • A physical therapy program resource
  • A physical therapist clinician
  • A community activity referral
• One unofficial transcript in PDF format detailing all physical therapy coursework completed to date to accompany the original application materials. If the applicant’s transcript is not based on a grading scale of 1-4, a written explanation of that scale’s equivalence to a 1-4 grading scale must be provided.

What Recipients Receive

A monetary award will be granted to each Faculty Development Scholarship Awardee, each student physical therapist awardee, and each student physical therapist assistant awardee.

Awards will be presented by APTA's Board of Directors at an APTA national event with monetary awards mailed prior to the event. An official announcement will appear in an association publication.

Submit a Nomination

The nominations call for the Honors & Awards program is open from Sept. 1 to Dec. 1. Nominations must be submitted through our online platform by Dec. 1; late submissions will not be considered. Selected recipients and their nominators will be notified in May.

Additional Resources

For questions regarding the nomination process or the award, contact APTA Honors & Awards.