Occupational Therapy Doctorate | Traditional  

NAU offers a traditional in-person Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) degree through the full-time Monday through Friday cohort. This program delivers in person didactic lectures and labs on the Phoenix Bioscience Core (PBC) campus. One cohort of up to 45 students is admitted to the traditional OTD program each year. 

The traditional campus-based and hybrid weekend modalities share a common mission and curriculum. Both modalities also share the same prerequisites, admission requirements, academic calendar, length of program, number of credits, and policies.  

Delivery of coursework 

The traditional OTD program is 115 credits and offered over 8 semesters. The first 5.5 semesters will consist of didactic content delivered primarily in person with some blended learning content; the final two semesters will require full-time weekday attendance at various fieldwork and capstone experiences. 

Fieldwork  

Students in the traditional cohort complete two full-time fieldwork experiences that are 12-weeks each in length, following the completion of the didactic content. This portion of the curriculum is completed with full-time attendance.  

Visit the Fieldwork webpage for more information on the fieldwork experience requirement.  

Capstone experience 

Following the successful completion of the 24-week fieldwork experience, the traditional OTD student will complete a 14-week Doctoral Capstone Experience, with full-time attendance. The doctoral capstone experience must be started after completion of all coursework and Level II fieldwork, as well as completion of preparatory activities defined in the 2023 Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) OTD Standard D.1.3.  

Visit the Capstone experience webpage for more information on the capstone experience and project. 

Practice Scholar Apprenticeship 

The Practice Scholar Apprenticeship (PSA) program at NAU provides a unique opportunity for students to experience participating on research teams and engage in practice-based and community-engaged research projects. Visit the Practice Scholar Apprenticeship webpage for more information.