Presidential Medallion Acceptance Remarks
By Dr. Florence Clark
Thank you, President Sample.
I am proud to be here tonight to accept this honor. It is a bit humbling to be added to the list of distinguished individuals who have been so recognized through the years. When I joined the faculty of USC in 1976, it was as an assistant professor in occupational therapy, a health profession whose contribution to the academic knowledge base has traditionally received very limited recognition. Such a discipline seems like a most unusual starting place for a recipient of the Presidential Medallion.
Although many of you may not know this, occupational therapy has been the unheralded custodian of a sparkling treasure. That treasure is its explicit focus on the things that people do as they live their everyday lives: Activities such as working on a PC, jogging, or cooking, we call occupations, and they are the building blocks of lifestyle. They are used therapeutically in occupational therapy and studied systematically in occupational science. Today, occupational science, which was launched at USC in the late 1980’s, has achieved worldwide acclaim. And our research has demonstrated how lifestyle redesign, focused on occupation, can cost-effectively slow down the effects of aging in later adulthood. It is my belief that these and other successes would not have been possible apart from the vision and support provided by the administrative leadership at USC. Without the deep understanding and courageous spirit that characterizes USC’s administration, it would have been impossible for the occupational therapy program to blossom so magnificently. Therefore, I personally wish to thank Dr. Steven B. Sample, as well as two other key administrators: Provost Lloyd Armstrong, and Vice President of Health Affairs, Joseph P. Van Der Meulen for creating the conditions that led to my receipt of this award.
My delight in receiving this honor is only surpassed by the wonderful possibilities that it creates for me, my department, my profession, my university and my community. I believe that recognition and appreciation serve to motivate. When a light shines brightly on good works, inspiration, momentum and greater achievement naturally follow.
Thus, for me, this Presidential Medallion represents not an exclamation point, but a point of departure. It renews my enthusiasm and purpose, it re-dedicates me to my love for teaching, and it reinvigorates my energies to move occupational therapy and the other independent health professions forward in the arena of health and wellness while furthering its traditional role in enabling people to overcome the obstacles that limit their participation in society.
No one who becomes the chair of a department at USC or any university – and serves successfully in that capacity for 15 years –does so without a supportive and hardworking staff and an energetic and inquisitive faculty. I am proud to share this medallion with all of you. I am honored to have followed Distinguished Professor Emeritus Elizabeth June Yerxa as department chair. Her deeply-rooted belief that non-medical interventions could have significant health and quality of life outcomes made her the driving force in the establishment of occupational science. She inspired and passed to me a torch that burns brighter each year. I also want to thank my colleagues from within and from outside our department, who have worked closely with me on the science that is taking occupational therapy to this new level of recognition and excellence. Thank you to Mike Carlson and Jeanne Jackson for being co-investigators on every major research project I have been part of during my tenure at USC; to Ruth Zemke, Deborah Mandel, Loren Lipson, Karen Josephson, and Joel Hay for your work on the USC Well Elderly Study; to Dr. Salah Rubayi, Dr. Michael Scott, Michal Atkins, and Kathy Gross from Rancho Los Amigos National Medical Center for the Pressure Sore Study; and to Michael Goran, Howard Hodis, Virginia Quinn and Kim Reynolds for collaborating on the development of the Weight Loss Clinical Trial. Professor Stanley Azen: thank you so much for working with me on my very first publication 28 years ago and for your continued collaboration with me in research throughout all these years.
Finally, I wish to salute the four people who comprise my support system and rooting section. First, my mother Beatrice Kaem, who taught me never to give up. If you had the opportunity to meet her you would know that I am my mother’s daughter. My loving husband, Dr. John Wolcott, is both my partner and colleague. His contributions, counsel and comfort have been essential to me. Thank you, John – I am standing here for both of us. My daughter, Sara, has not merely tolerated, but embraced her working-mother-plus. When she was twelve, she heard me rehearsing my Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lecture so many times that she could not only recite it, but sang it to us in operatic style. And while John is my spouse at home, I have another one in the office – my right hand and loyal administrative assistant -- Janis Wise, who has served with me for 18 years in what continues to be a happy and rewarding relationship.
Tonight’s honor also highlights our activities in the local community surrounding USC where John and I live with 240 freshmen at North Residential College; the community where the department established the Center for Occupation and Lifestyle Redesign in a historic Victorian home; and one of the two communities where our department has received nine neighborhood outreach grants. The Presidential Medallion will inspire our faculty to build on these programs. This will happen because USC does not cloister itself. It is the type of inclusive institution that mirrors the exciting vibrancy of Southern California. Here, we are encouraged to take the most audacious visions and make them realities. Guided by President Sample, we have realized a steady improvement in the quality of our academic community and the quality of our neighborhood community. Today there is a dedication to making USC a university in which research and practice become linked to solve society’s most pressing problems. There is no other university where I could be more proud to be a faculty member.
I end my remarks the way they began, by saying thank you for the honor and for the recognition. Because in bestowing this medallion you have said “thank you” to me, to my colleagues and to my profession – and that simple phrase is without doubt one of the most inspiring and empowering in human communication.
