Campus Life

University of West Florida to host presentation on Doctor of Physical Therapy Partnership Program

The University of West Florida (UWF) will host a presentation on Tuesday, Feb. 5 to provide information on its Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) Partnership Program with the University of South Florida. The featured speaker at the event will be Dr. William Quillen, director of the USF School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences.

The presentation will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Building 52, Room 152A at the UWF main campus in Pensacola. Quillen will discuss the application and admission process for prospective students and answer questions pertaining to physical therapy and the USF-UWF DPT Partnership Program. Refreshments will be provided at the event.

In January, the Florida Board of Governors approved the USF-UWF Doctor of Physical Therapy education partnership program, following the Florida Legislature’s appropriation of $1 million last year to assist with funding. The collaborative program will expand access to UWF students interested in pursuing a DPT and help meet a state-identified need for more physical therapists in a largely rural region of the state.

Through the partnership program, the USF Health School of Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences will expand enrollment in its nationally ranked, three-year DPT program by as many as 12 additional students per year. The newly created slots will be competitively available to UWF graduates who meet USF’s DPT admissions requirements.

Students would spend their first year of physical therapy studies at the USF Health campus in Tampa. The final two years of the program would be spent at UWF’s Pensacola campus, as well as clinical internships conducted at hospitals and outpatient sites across the state’s Panhandle.