Address
The board at ILOTA has had a busy quarter. Our
executive director, Lisa Kelsey, decided to resign her
position to dedicate more time to her role as wife
and mother. She has expressed interest in a continued
working relationship with ILOTA on an as needed
basis to help with tasks like conference or editing our
newsletter. The board is grateful for her work over this
past year and especially her coordination of our annual
conference. The board responded quickly to identify,
interview, and hire Tracy Repmann. Their quick work
allowed Lisa to to provide some orientation. Jenny
Dang, who held the role of executive director before
Lisa recommended Tracy for the position and was able
to provide additional training. Tracy has outstanding
credentials working for professional organizations like
ILOTA. She is dynamic, organized, and insightful. I am
looking forward to our members getting to know her
and the wonderful things I think she will contribute to
our organization.
Early this quarter I had conversations with
Jordan Skowronski and Santina Branch, our ILOTA
Multicultural Liaison about ways we might better
support diversity.
The board adopted protocols for review and
oversight of projects proposed by members. This
will allow members to adopt short-term projects to
accomplish specific goals related to their interests.
We are hopeful that this can be one way to encourage
member engagement and help ILOTA better achieve
its mission. If you have ideas about projects you think
ILOTA should be working on, please contact me at
[email protected].
We have started conversations about revising the
Communique. We are considering options for updating
the format and reorganizing procedures within the
Newsletter Committee. Stay tuned for updates.
I have spent a lot of time this quarter researching
different Learning Management Systems that will allow
ILOTA to develop online educational resources for
James Hill, OTR, OTR-L
therapists and their clients.
Over the next quarter I
hope to work with the
board to lay the foundation
for an expanding library
of high quality, accessible,
continuing
education
resources.
In addition to the
work we are doing on these
emerging projects, the board
has been busy organizing for
our second annual student conclave scheduled March 9
at Shirley Ryan Ability Lab. Please check www.ilota.org
for details.
We are also in active planning for our annual
conference, scheduled for October 4 & 5 at Tinley Park
Convention Center. We have made the decision to
expand into a convention center after years of holding
the ILOTA conference at hotels to accommodate growth
in membership and participation. Like all changes this
one offers exciting new opportunities as well as risks.
The board has been busy exploring ways we might
embrace these opportunities and challenges. Please
consider saving the date in your calendar now. It would
also be a good year for you to present at the conference
or volunteer to help the conference committee. You can
contact conference co-chairs Abi Swidergal abiswi@
gmail.com or Christina Rojas christyrojasot@gmail.
com if you are interested in helping to make this year’s
conference a rousing success.
As always, we are deeply grateful for your support
and the opportunity to serve you as members of this
professional organization. We are always interested
in your ideas about how we might better achieve this
mission. You can send them to [email protected] or
directly to me at [email protected].
Volunteering Opportunities
According to the State of Illinois Rules for earning
CEUs (2018), one can complete any of the following
to earn CEUs:
• Volunteer your time
• Use your time and talents to enhance or better
the organization
• State conference is always looking for
assistance
Page
• Develop a Grant
• Professional Writing
• First time publication, including an article for
ILOTA
• Fieldwork Supervision
• Mentoring a new Clinician
Please review the rules and complete guidelines at
https://www.idpfr.com/profs/occtherapy.asp