The Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE®) is seeking a new public member to fill a vacancy that will occur next summer (August 2027).
ACOTE PUBLIC MEMBER ROLE
PURPOSE: To recognize the public interest in all activities, deliberations, and decisions of the ACOTE®. The public member represents the consumer in occupational therapy education.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Serve with the same rights and responsibilities as other ACOTE members except for specific program review. They are expected to; attend all meetings, contribute to discussions, participate in selected task groups and vote on ACOTE decisions. The public member may audit an on-site evaluation to gain knowledge and insight regarding the accreditation process.
ROLE: Provide an “outside” perspective to ACOTE discussions, raise issues from the consumer’s perspective, provide knowledge of their field of expertise when appropriate to ACOTE business, communicate their view of the field of occupational therapy to the outside public, keep before the ACOTE’s deliberations questions regarding ethics, directions and purposes of ACOTE and who benefits from decisions made in ACOTE meetings.
TERM OF OFFICE: Three years and may not serve more than two (2) consecutive terms.
CRITERIA: An individual with an informed, broad-gauged community point of view who can contribute an outside perspective to accrediting issues and must not be (1) an employee, member of the governing board, owner, or shareholder of, or consultant to, the sponsoring institution or program that either is accredited by ACOTE or has applied for ACOTE accreditation; (2) a member of The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) or individual associated with or certified by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT); or (3) a spouse, parent, child, or sibling of an individual identified in (1) or (2).
The Public Member representing the consumer in education must:
- Represent higher education (e.g., non-OT faculty, consultant, administrator).
- Be knowledgeable regarding the university/college system.
- Represent the consumer of education.
- Demonstrate a commitment to public service.
- Have no occupational therapy education.
- Commit to a three-year appointment and agree to attend three meetings per year.
The Public Member representing the consumer in health care, business, and/or the community must:
- Be an individual who represents the health care community at large (e.g., lawyer, ethicist, hospital administrator, consumer, public advocate, associate with such agencies as American Heart Association).
- Be knowledgeable of current health care issues and trends.
- Represent the consumer of occupational therapy practice.
- Demonstrate a commitment to public service.
- Have no occupational therapy education.
- Commit to a three-year appointment and agree to attend three meetings per year.
METHOD OF APPOINTMENT
The Chairperson, in consultation with appropriate others, will appoint public member(s) who best meet the current needs of ACOTE.
To apply, please complete this application: ACOTE Public Member Application – Intellistack
The Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE®) is accepting applications for new members to serve on the Roster of Accreditation Evaluators (RAE).
RAE members assist in evaluating the compliance of more than 500 occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant educational programs with ACOTE Accreditation Standards through on-site evaluations and online reviews. Their work provides ACOTE with the necessary information to make accreditation decisions and helps to ensure the competency of future occupational therapy practitioners.
ACOTE is the only accrediting body for occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant educational programs and is a separate group that includes members representing occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant education and practice, public members, and an academic administrator. The primary role of the RAE is to evaluate educational programs and inform ACOTE. All decisions regarding accreditation of occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant educational programs are made by ACOTE.
To be eligible the applicant must:
- Have at least 5 years of experience as an occupational therapy assistant or occupational therapist
- Be a member of AOTA and in good standing (if not a member, must commit to joining AOTA)
- Not hold concurrent positions on an AOTA policy-making or decision-making body, e.g., Representative Assembly, Board of Directors, or Ethics Commission
- Not hold a position in a credentialing capacity, e.g., National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT), Executive Board member or Certification Examination Item Writer
Duties and Responsibilities
- Successful completion of the Accreditation Evaluator Workshop (expenses are reimbursed)
- Completion of 1-3 on-site accreditation visits per year (expenses are reimbursable). On-site accreditation visits will occur outside of a member’s home state and may include, air travel, extended drives, rental car or ride-share transport, and touring large institutions.
- Additional online reviews as assigned (the amount of time required to complete a review varies based on the type of review, the quality and depth of the report under review, and the expertise of the RAE reviewer)
- Attend routine training to maintain familiarity with accreditation policies, procedures and standards
- Expeditiously handle all matters pertaining to accreditation
- Abide by the AOTA Code of Ethics
- Preserve the confidentiality of personnel, students, programs, institutions, and ACOTE actions
- Deny any service, whether paid or unpaid, to any institution or program in litigation with ACOTE or actively appealing an ACOTE action
Terms of Service
- 3.5 years
Professional Growth Opportunities
- Continuing education awarded for all program reviews and on-site visits (average 28-35 contact hours per on-site)
- Serve as Team Chairperson for on-site accreditation evaluations (by invitation)
- Serve as a member of ACOTE (by invitation)
Application and Selection Process
- Applications received by March 1 will be reviewed annually in March and notifications will be sent no later than April 30 for the next RAE training (applications received after March 1 will be reviewed the following year)
- Applicants must complete the fillable form and upload a current CV or resume
- The ACOTE Executive Committee, in collaboration with AOTA accreditation staff, will review all eligible applications
- All applicants will be informed of ACOTE’s final decision
Selected RAE members must commit to the time and effort required to fulfill the responsibilities outlined above.
Interested candidates please complete the RAE Application Form