Find Your Place at Hanover
The Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) program at Hanover College is a hybrid, accelerated program that prepares future leaders in occupational therapy. Students begin making an impact on the health and wellness of others sooner, by earning their doctorate degree in just two years. The rigorous, evidence-based curriculum is delivered through an innovative hybrid learning format, allowing students to remain in their homes and communities while receiving an excellent occupational therapy education from Hanover College – a leader in hybrid health care education. To complement online coursework, students will participate in lab immersions held on Hanover’s beautiful campus and in a brand-new dedicated lab space in southern Indiana, right across the Ohio River from lively Louisville, Kentucky. Fieldwork and the doctoral capstone will round out students’ learning experience, allowing them to acquire in-depth knowledge in their chosen area of interest. We invite you to embark on your journey to a meaningful, challenging career as an occupational therapist. Through innovation, curiosity, and passion, we’ll help you get there.
Priority Application Deadline: June 20, 2025
The mission of the OTD program at Hanover is to empower and prepare students to become evidence-based, occupation-focused practitioners who value and are committed to lifelong learning, leadership, advocacy, innovative practice, scholarship, and service to individuals, communities and populations.
At Hanover, the occupational therapy program prepares students to become credentialed entry-level occupational therapists through academic and professional excellence. The program encourages the development of strong clinical reasoning skills, occupational focused clinical skills, and high levels of professionalism. Students are exposed to a variety of service delivery models and systems commonly encountered in current occupational therapy practice. Students understand the importance of diversity and culture in occupational therapy practice while demonstrating compliance with ethical standards, values and attitudes.
The importance of being a life-long learner is recognized as an essential professional role and responsibility to remain a competent occupational therapist. Students achieve these goals through faculty demonstration of leadership in occupational therapy education, practice, scholarship and service. Expertise shared by faculty through innovative teaching strategies, professional and scholarly presentations, collaboration, consultation, service and advocacy provides the students with strategies and approaches to enrich the occupational therapy profession.
The entry-level occupational therapy doctoral degree program has applied for accreditation and has been granted Preaccreditation Status by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), located at 7501 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 510E, Bethesda, MD 20814. ACOTE’s telephone number c/o AOTA is (301) 352-6611 and its web address is www.acoteonline.org. The program must complete an on-site evaluation and be granted Accreditation Status before its graduates will be eligible to sit for the national certification examination for the occupational therapist administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). After successful completion of this exam, the individual will be an Occupational Therapist, Registered (OTR). In addition, all states require licensure to practice; however, state licenses are usually based on the results of the NBCOT Certification Examination. A felony conviction may affect a graduate’s ability to sit for the NBCOT certification examination or attain state licensure.
Students must complete 24 weeks of Level II fieldwork and an individual 14-week capstone experience within 18 months following the completion of the didactic portion of the program. The doctoral capstone experience must be started after completion of all coursework, Level II fieldwork and preparatory activities defined in 2018 ACOTE OTD Standard D.1.3.
Hanover College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (hlcommission.org), an institutional accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Hanover is a member of the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA). SARA is an agreement among member states, districts and territories that establishes national standards for interstate offering of post-secondary distance education.
The Hanover College Doctor of Occupational Therapy program meets the educational requirements for professional licensure in Indiana and all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Students should review the specific academic requirements for the program in which they are enrolling Table of State Licensure Requirements. We highly recommend that students contact the applicable licensure board(s) in their state of residence or in the state where they intend to obtain a license before beginning an academic program that results in licensure.
Any member of the Hanover College community has the right to file a complaint or grievance against the OTD Program without fear of retaliation. Access to the entire policy can be obtained by clicking on the link. Complaints or grievances can be reported electronically by accessing the form here.