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Current Scholarship in Progress
Current Scholarship in Progress
My scholarly interests continue to focus on the evolving relationships among identity, narrative, participation, and meaning in human life, particularly within the rapidly changing social and technological context of the twenty-first century.
My scholarly interests continue to focus on the evolving relationships among identity, narrative, participation, and meaning in human life, particularly within the rapidly changing social and technological context of the twenty-first century.
Two interrelated projects currently guide this work:
Two interrelated projects currently guide this work:
Identity, Narrative, and Belonging Across Culture and Time
Identity, Narrative, and Belonging Across Culture and Time
I am preparing a reflective reprise of my 1999 Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lecture, Occupation as Identity, written twenty-five years later. This essay reconsiders identity as a storied and culturally situated process, shaped by belonging, survivorship after trauma, and the human need to construct coherent life narratives. The work draws on contemporary scholarship in meaning, including Baumeister’s framework of fundamental needs for meaning, and explores implications for occupational science, mental health, and late-life development.
I am preparing a reflective reprise of my 1999 Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lecture, Occupation as Identity, written twenty-five years later. This essay reconsiders identity as a storied and culturally situated process, shaped by belonging, survivorship after trauma, and the human need to construct coherent life narratives. The work draws on contemporary scholarship in meaning, including Baumeister’s framework of fundamental needs for meaning, and explores implications for occupational science, mental health, and late-life development.
Re-visioning the PEOP Model for the emerging era of Artificial Intelligence
Re-visioning the PEOP Model for the emerging era of Artificial Intelligence
A second project considers how the Person–Environment–Occupation–Participation (PEOP) framework may be reinterpreted for a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, global interdependence, and changing forms of participation in everyday life. This work seeks a more international and participatory understanding of occupation, attentive to issues of access, belonging, and social inclusion.
A second project considers how the Person–Environment–Occupation–Participation (PEOP) framework may be reinterpreted for a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, global interdependence, and changing forms of participation in everyday life. This work seeks a more international and participatory understanding of occupation, attentive to issues of access, belonging, and social inclusion.
Ongoing Professional Engagement
Ongoing Professional Engagement
My current professional activities include:
My current professional activities include:
- Member, Elevance Health National Advisory Board on Improving Healthcare Services for Older Adults and People with Disabilities (2009–present)
- Board Member, Occupational Therapy Leaders & Legacies Society (2017–present)
- Member, American Occupational Therapy Association, Society for the Study of Occupation: USA, and Academy of Lifestyle Medicine
- Graduate study toward the Master of Public Health, James Lind Institute, Geneva, Switzerland (in progress)
- Graduate work in Narrative Understanding, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden (2024)
- Recent presentation with Kristine Haertl at the Society for the Study of Occupation Annual Meeting, Galveston, Texas (October 2025)
Orientation
Orientation
Across these efforts, my continuing aim is to understand how everyday occupation enables persons to construct identity, sustain belonging, and create meaning throughout the life course.
Across these efforts, my continuing aim is to understand how everyday occupation enables persons to construct identity, sustain belonging, and create meaning throughout the life course.
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