Jodie Hanzlik Biography Legacies Project

Jodie attended the University of Wisconsin- Madison where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy and her Master of Science in Child and Family Studies. From there, she went on to earn her Ph.D. in Child Development from Iowa State University. Jodie worked as a Pediatric Occupational Therapist while earning her graduate degrees, honing her knowledge, and fostering her interest in working with infants and children, especially those with developmental disabilities. Jodie’s graduate research examined mother-infant free-play interaction and intervention in groups of infants with and without disabilities. She continued her research in this area and other pediatric-related matters as a faculty member resulting in a number of chapters, books, federal and state grants, refereed and invited publications, and presentations both nationally and internationally.

Jodie began her first academic appointment at Colorado State University in the Department of Occupational Therapy in 1984. She accepted a faculty position under the leadership of Department Head Ellie Gilfoyle. Jodie was drawn to the OT department because of its focus on research and the research requirements of the Master of Science degree that was offered, one of the limited number of departments that had such requirements at that time.

Jodie maintained a strong research and teaching focus for her first 13 years in the OT department. With the encouragement of Ellie Gilfoyle, Jodie applied and was appointed as department head by Dean Nancy Hartley in 1997. Jodie’s first day as department head fell during the disastrous aftermath of the Spring Creek Flood on CSU’s campus in July 1997. The department had to move out of the Occupational Therapy Building and overcome many challenges throughout that year. Although she had a rocky start, Jodie thrived in her new role and found her calling in higher education administration.

In 2007, Jodie was selected as Associate Dean in the Graduate School at CSU. Later she was appointed Interim Dean and then in 2012, she was appointed Associate Vice Provost of Graduate Affairs and Dean of the Graduate School by Provost and Executive Vice President Rick Miranda.

Throughout Jodie’s remarkable career,  Nancy Hartley, and Ellie Gilfoyle both acted as her mentors and became dear friends during her tenure at CSU. They supported her in many ways over the years in the range of positions she held.

While serving as department head, Jodie was committed to advocating for the department and bringing about initiatives and projects to enhance its status and visibility. Supported by her efforts, the department was recognized as the first one in the college to be acknowledged as a CSU Program of Research and Scholarly Excellence (PRSE) in 1999. A few years later, the department received the Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE) Program of Excellence award which came with a $1.6 million grant. This allowed the department to integrate service learning into the curriculum, create the Occupational Therapy Garden, remodel the OT Building, and improve the quality of labs to enhance student learning. The grant also funded laptops to create a mobile computer lab for students in OT classrooms and laboratories, expanding new student learning opportunities. With these changes, the department earned a reputation for its skill at integrating unique student learning, research, and service opportunities into the core of its professional graduate curriculum.

In 1998, the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) mandated that OT departments eliminate undergraduate programs from their curricula and create master’s programs as the entry-level degree into the profession. In 2000, under Jodie’s leadership, the department successfully met these goals, discontinuing the undergraduate curriculum, implementing its first entry-level master’s program, and updating the post-professional master’s program. In 2005, Jodie engaged the OT faculty to first discuss the idea of implementing the Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) as the new entry-level degree within the department. This idea was ultimately brought to fruition years later by Department Head Anita Bundy.  As Dean of the Graduate School at that time, Jodie helped usher the OTD degree through the Graduate School’s degree process. The OTD program launched in 2022 and will graduate its first cohort of graduates in 2025.

In 2002, Jodie introduced a new project to support faculty cross-cultural awareness. Working with faculty from the OT department along with faculty from the Yamagata Prefectural University in Japan, she initiated an academic relationship between the two departments. This relationship is still going strong in 2024. The program is composed of student and faculty visits between the two campuses, sharing lectures on OT practice, research, and the respective cultures of the academic communities.

During her tenure in the OT department, Jodie learned the importance of national service to the profession that benefited the profession as well as the advancement of the department at CSU. Along with the faculty, Jodie participated in and provided leadership on a range of committees for the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) and the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). Those efforts supported the growth and development of theory and practice of the profession and helped to spread the news of the impressive accomplishments and outcomes of the department, assisting in maintaining CSU’s continued ranking by US News and World Report as one of the best OT departments in the nation. One of Jodie’s major service contributions occurred as the first AOTA Project Director of the Specialty Certification Project. In that capacity, she was responsible for providing the leadership to develop the AOTA specialty certification program for pediatric occupational therapists that, to this day, provides an avenue for therapists to certify their professional knowledge and skill in pediatrics to employers as well as other health care professionals, and the public. In addition to national, state, and local OT service activities, Jodie also participated in a wide range of advisory, editorial, and grant review boards and panels. She was acknowledged for her service through a number of awards, though the AOTA “Fellow” award was the one she most cherished. This award honored her for her contributions as a researcher in the area of early intervention and her leadership in promoting pediatric occupational therapy.

Jodie’s career in the OT department has been characterized by her commitment to Colorado State University and by her contributions to the excellence of the Department of Occupational Therapy. The US News and World Report ranking, the PRSE, and the CCHE Program of Excellence Awards have moved the department forward on campus and nationally. Her implacable advocacy for the department and faculty has been one of the trademarks of her leadership style.

During Jodie’s tenure, the administrative side of the Graduate School grew with new responsibilities for the oversight of the Special Academic Units  (e.g. Colorado School Of Public Health, Cell and Molecular Biology, the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology). Under her leadership, the Graduate School also undertook a range of new initiatives focused on enhancing the graduate student experience, domestic and international. These efforts supported the success of CSU graduate students during their tenure in their degree programs through a range of innovative professional development opportunities with the goals of enhancing student recruitment, retention, and graduation rates. International student recruitment was specifically addressed through the creation of a new tuition funding program for CSU’s international strategic partners.

Jodie led the Graduate School’s effort to support student diversity through the implementation of the Graduate Center for Diversity and Access. The Center offered a wide array of innovative student recruitment and retention programs created specifically for diverse students, to support their success, and graduation and to serve as a resource for them and as well, their advisers and professors. For the first time, faculty programs were available that addressed advising and mentoring strategies while the student programs addressed professional development and large and small group opportunities for student sharing and support. Another pride point for Jodie was increasing the number of diverse students in the Graduate School through National Science Foundation grants: Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation – Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) and the Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP). Together these programs supported over 100 students with full tuition and scholarships throughout their graduate programs over a multi-year period.

Working collaboratively with departments and units to create solutions around student recruitment, retention, and graduation,  Jodie, staff, and university partners were instrumental in initiating a wide array of programs that provided a range of student benefits and opportunities. Some of the most effective included: the Graduate Student Research Showcase, Graduate Student and Post-Doctoral Professional Development Programs, Dissertation Writing Bootcamps, the Graduate Assistant Parental Leave Program, the Graduate Council Student Professional-Travel Award Program, new degree categories for in-demand programs such as the Graduate Certificate; the Professional Science Master’s and the Professional Doctorate, full health care coverage for graduate teaching assistants, a post-doctoral fellow benefits package, and new GTA and GRA funding programs, to name a few.

Retiring in 2017, Jodie and her husband, Louis, traveled extensively internationally exploring a range of cultures. In 2020, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Since that time, she says it feels like she has been busy earning her post-doc in cancer care and self-advocacy within the health care system. At this point, working with both UCHealth Anschutz – Denver and MD Anderson- Houston, she is committed to finding a clinical trial she can participate in. Jodie is actively involved in serving as a friend and mentor to others diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

On a lighter note, Jodie enjoys spending time with family, entertaining, and nurturing all of her friendships that are very important to her in both Colorado and throughout the U.S. Jodie is interested in the arts and design; she is always involved in some type of project. Dedicated to exercise, you can find her at the gym on a daily basis. She is also addicted to National Public Radio (NPR) and is known for her love of books. In 2022, Jodie was awarded the “Friend of OT Award” by the Department of Occupational Therapy at CSU.