Betty Risteen Hasselkus, PhD, OTR, FAOTA is an Emeritus Professor of
Kinesiology/Occupational Therapy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where
she served as program director for 10 years. Prior to her faculty appointment,
she earned a bachelor of science degree in occupational therapy, a master of
science degree in physical education, and a doctor of philosophy degree at the
University of Wisconsin. The hospital where she did much of her training and
where she held her first position in occupational therapy is also the building
where she was born, where her children were born, and where, ultimately, the
academic program of occupational therapy was located during her faculty
years.
During her more than 40 years of active participation in the profession of
occupational therapy, Dr. Hasselkus has focused her research, teaching, and
practice on the everyday occupational experience of people in the community,
with a special emphasis on family caregiving for older family members,
physician-family caregiver relationships, meanings of everyday occupation to
dementia daycare staff, and the meaning of doing occupational therapy. She was
elected to the American Occupational Therapy Association Roster of Fellows in
1986 and to the American Occupational Therapy Foundation Academy of Research in
1999. Dr. Hasselkus was the invited Wilma West Lecturer at the University of
Southern California in 2003, presenting a lecture entitled, "The Voice of
Everyday Occupation." In 2005, she was awarded the AOTA Eleanor Clarke Slagle
Lectureship Award-the Association's highest award for scholarship-and
subsequently gave the award lecture in 2006, "The World of Everyday Occupation:
Real People, Real Lives."
Dr. Hasselkus was editor of The American Journal of Occupational
Therapy from 1998 to 2003. Her international reputation as a scholar has
taken her to Australia, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Wales, and Northern Ireland,
where she has provided lectures and workshops on qualitative research methods,
critical analysis, writing, and qualitative research opportunities in everyday
occupation. Her scholarly career includes more than 90 publications in journals
and texts.