2018 Mitchell Symposium
The Mitchell Symposium in Occupational Science is named in honor and memory of Dr. Marlys Mitchell, the founder of the master’s program in Occupational Therapy at UNC-Chapel Hill, and her husband, Earl, a great supporter of Marlys’ work (and of occupational therapy). Symposium scholars deliver a public lecture and participate in talks, discussions, and meetings with faculty, students, and researchers from throughout Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy and the Department of Allied Health Sciences. Initiated in 2011, the symposium has been made possible through generous gifts from friends and alumni of the division.
2018 Mitchell Symposium
Scholar-Virginia Dickie, PhD, OT, FAOTA
“QUILTED: Stitching Together Theory and Practice by Studying Occupation”
A basic understanding of occupation is an essential element for an occupation-based approach to occupational therapy. I have chosen to use my anthropology training in ethnography to study whole occupations, i.e., not only how individuals complete occupations, but how these occupations are part of a much larger situation that includes social, economic, political, and environmental elements. After coming to North Carolina in 2000, I focused my research on contemporary quilt making occupations and collaborated with colleagues Cutchin and Humphry to develop a transactional perspective of occupation, applying John Dewey’s work to findings from the range of our research programs. My research is qualitative, and I was fortunate to also collaborate with Grace Baranek’s research team in the area of sensory experiences of children and autism.