BELTON, Texas—The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (UMHB) is pleased to announce the development of a new entry-level occupational therapy doctorate academic program. UMHB's Occupational Therapy doctorate program will be a 28-month program, with the first cohort starting in the spring of 2026.
This academic program offers expanded career opportunities and is a planned expansion within the university's Mayborn College of Health Sciences to prepare students for careers in the ever-changing healthcare environment. This addition is an expansion of the occupational therapy master's program that began in 2020 and will allow students within the master's program to choose an advanced pathway and receive a doctoral degree.
With the same mission, vision, curricular design, and educational approach as the master's in occupational therapy (MSOT) program, the occupational therapy doctorate (OTD) degree program will prepare students to be excellent entry-level practitioners with the additional value of the capstone experience in one of the following focus areas: Program Development, Research, Policy and Advocacy, Clinical Practice, and Administration/Entrepreneurship.
"We are so excited to offer students the choice between master's or doctoral-level degree programs in occupational therapy," said Giulianne Krug, PhD, founding program director for UMHB's MSOT and OTD programs. "Consistent with our student-centered approach to OT education, we have structured the program to allow students to make a fully informed, educated choice about which degree will best meet student learning and career goals. Entering as a single graduate cohort, students will have a year of foundational content before deciding which degree to complete. To date, we are the only OT program in Texas offering students this incredible opportunity to choose between a MSOT or OTD within the same degree path."
The Mayborn College of Health Sciences is comprised of three schools with a unified purpose of educating students in a rigorous academic setting. The college aims to prepare approximately 1,300 undergraduate and graduate students annually to engage in inter-professional relationships to provide holistic healing of the mind, body, and spirit of their patients.
