Elnora M. Gilfoyle | |
|---|---|
| Born | Elnora Clausing 1934 (age 90–91) Ottumwa, Iowa, US |
| Occupation(s) | Occupational therapist, researcher, educator, university administrator |
| Years active | 1956–1995 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
| Awards | 1984Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship Colorado Women's Hall of Fame, 1996 |
Elnora M. Gilfoyle (born 1934) is a retired Americanoccupational therapist, researcher, educator, and university administrator. She worked at several hospitals before accepting a professorship atColorado State University, later serving as Dean of the College of Applied Human Sciences and Provost/Academic Vice President at that university. She is also a past president of theAmerican Occupational Therapy Association. With research interests inchild development, developmental disabilities, and child abuse, she has led studies on the state and federal levels. The co-author of two books and many articles, she was inducted into theColorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1996.
She was born Elnora Clausing in 1934 inOttumwa, Iowa.[1][2] She is the youngest of four children of Otto Herman Clausing (1895–1960), a manufacturer, and his wife Alice (née Stark) (1896–1978).[1][3][4] The family wasGerman-American and had a strong work ethic. Her father believed that girls could do the same work as boys, and Elnora and her two sisters worked alongside their brother in their father's machine shop.[5]
A graduate ofOttumwa High School,[2] she studiedhome economics atIowa State University for two years beginning in 1952.[1][5] During this time, she accompanied her roommate, anoccupational therapy student, to the hospital where she worked and became interested in the discipline. She transferred to theState University of Iowa where she earned her B.A. in occupational therapy in 1956.[1] She was one of the first students to receive a scholarship under the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1954, whose goal was to increase vocational rehabilitation practitioners.[6] She earned anAdvanced Certificate in professional occupational therapy from the State University of Iowa in 1958.[1]
Gilfoyle relocated toDenver, Colorado, as a graduate student intern in 1956.[7][8] There she met her husband, Gene Gilfoyle, whom she married in 1958.[8] She first worked as an occupational therapy clinician in theDenver General Hospital.[8] She next moved to theCraig Hospital, where she served as a clinical supervisor in the occupational therapy department, working primarily with patients with spinal cord injuries and brain damage.[8] In the 1960s, she was appointed director of the occupational therapy department atChildren's Hospital Colorado.[8]
In 1964 Gilfoyle was named to a fellowship inchild development at the Department of Pediatrics at theUniversity of Colorado Health Sciences Center, where she worked until 1966.[1] She was among the first therapists at the new John F. Kennedy Child Development Center, assisting developmentally disabled and abused children. She also involved families in the rehabilitation process at the university's occupational therapy department.[9]
She also taught classes for pediatric occupational students.[1] She became an associate professor atColorado State University (CSU) in 1981 and a full professor in 1986.[1] In 1988,[7] she was appointed assistant dean of the College of Applied Human Sciences, and head of CSU's department of occupational therapy.[1] She held the post of Dean of the College of Applied Human Sciences from 1989 to 1991, and Provost/Academic Vice President of CSU from 1991 to 1995, being the first woman to hold the latter position.[1][7] In 1995 she founded and directed CSU's Institute for Women and Leadership.[1][9]
The Denver Department of Health tapped Gilfoyle to serve on a research team studying developmentally delayed and abused children.[1][8] TheAmerican Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) appointed her as director of aU.S. Department of Education research grant project that produced a national curriculum to prepare occupational therapists to work with developmentally delayed children in public schools.[1]
In the bookChildren Adapt (1981), co-authors Gilfoyle, Ann P. Grady, and Josephine C. Moore advanced a developmental theory of spatiotemporal adaptation, which posits that children develop as a result of interaction with their environment. The authors believed that by combining modifications to the child's environment with subcortical learning, an occupational therapist could assist children with developmental disabilities.[7]
Between 1968 and 1991, Gilfoyle secured more than $2 million in funding for occupational therapy research from U.S. government and Colorado state agencies.[10]
Gilfoyle was a member of various committee and boards for the AOTA, including editorial board member for theAmerican Journal of Occupational Therapy (1970–1975), chair of the Task Force on Organizational Design and Transitional Planning (1975–1978), Secretary (1983–1985 and 1974–1977), and President (1986–1989).[1] She was also President of the Colorado Occupational Therapy Association from 1966 to 1970, and co-chaired the annual conference of the Society for Behavioral Kinesiology in 1972.[1]
Gilfoyle received numerous commendations and distinguished service awards from the AOTA.[1] She was awarded the 1984Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship, AOTA's highest academic award.[11] In 1989 AOTA named her as "one of ten individuals nationwide whose contributions have had a significant impact on the practice, education, and research of the profession".[1] She received the association's Award of Merit in 1991.[12] In 2017, AOTA included her on their list of "100 Influential People" in the field.[13]
She received an honoraryDoctor of Science degree from Colorado State University in 1981, being the first occupational therapist to receive this degree.[7] She was inducted into theColorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1996.[9]
She married Eugene R. "Gene" Gilfoyle, a Denver native, in 1958.[2][8] They had one son.[1][14] They were married for 53 years until her husband's death in November 2010.[1]
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