Kinesiology
Occupational Therapy (OT)
Personal Biography
Betty Risteen Hasselkus is an Emeritus Professor of Kinesiology/Occupational Therapy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she served as Program Director for ten 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 UW-Madison.
During her over 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 care giving for older family members, physician-family caregiver relationships, meanings of everyday occupation to dementia day care 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 1998-2003. 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 over 90 publications in journals and texts. The second edition of her book, The Meaning of Everyday Occupation, was released in January 2011.