Gannon University

CAROLYN GALLEHER, PT, MHS, Coordinator of Undergraduate Physical Therapy:

FACULTY: Professor: Pamela Reynolds. Associate Professor: Kristine Legters. Assistant Professors: Carolyn Galleher, Thomas Hudson, Jeannette Lee, Donna Skelly. Instructors: Steven Bitticker, Julie Hartmann.

Physical Therapy is a health care profession that primarily focuses on the preservation, development, and restoration of optimal function. Physical therapists provide evaluative, rehabilitative, and preventive health care services designed to alleviate pain; prevent the onset and progression of impairment, functional limitation, disability resulting from injury, disease, or other causes; and restore, maintain and promote overall fitness, health and optimal quality of life. Physical therapists work with individuals of all ages who demonstrate movement dysfunction, or the potential for such dysfunction, of the neurological, musculoskeletal, integumentary, and cardiopulmonary systems.

Physical therapists practice in a hospital setting, or provide services in out-of-hospital settings through home health agencies, in nursing homes, in industrial settings, through public health agencies, in private physical therapy clinics, in public schools and in a variety of other nontraditional settings.

The job opportunities for physical therapists remain abundant, and according to the Occupation Outlook Handbook, are expected to continue to grow during the new millennium. Advances in medical technology continue to allow for the treatment of more severe disabilities. As a result, physical therapists will be needed to care for the aging baby boomers who face heart disease, strokes and arthritis, and to attend to the growing number of newborns who suffer severe birth defects.

Gannon's undergraduate Physical Therapy curriculum assists students in preparing themselves for acceptance into Gannon's Doctor of Physical Therapy program. With the guidance of the physical therapy advisor, students select courses to fulfill prerequisites specific to the professional program, or programs, to which students wish to apply.

All entry-level physical therapy programs offer only graduate level (master's or doctorate degree) professional preparation. Because of this, students entering Gannon's undergraduate physical therapy program intending to apply to graduate level professional programs should select a major field of study. The choice of a major will depend upon the student's personal interest. Students may select any of the following majors available at Gannon: Biology, Business Administration, Chemistry, Mathematics, Nursing*, Psychology, Science, and Sport and Exercise Science. *May require summer courses.

Gannon University offers a doctoral degree program in physical therapy. The curriculum is seven years in length with a 4+3 model. Graduates must complete a Baccalaureate degree and 3 years of professional preparation. While enrollment in Gannon's undergraduate physical therapy program does not guarantee acceptance into the professional graduate program, 75 percent of the seats in each entering class at the graduate level are reserved for "qualified Gannon graduates".

Admission into the Undergraduate program:

The minimum requirements to be considered for acceptance to the undergraduate Physical

Therapy program include:

1. Overall high school GPA of 3.0 or better.

2. SAT score of 1010 or higher or ACT score of 21 or higher

3. Completion of college prep biology and chemistry with labs and three years of college prep

Acceptance into the Graduate Program:

The graduate program gives preference to qualified Gannon University undergraduate physical therapy applicants who meet the following criteria:

1. Maintain a minimum overall 3.0 GPA

4. Transferred to Gannon University and completed a minimum of 30 credits in the

Early Acceptance Opportunity into the Graduate Program:

Four plus three guaranteed acceptance:

A guaranteed position in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program will be reserved for any freshman if the following criteria are met:

1. SAT total of 1050 or higher

2. GPA of 3.2 or higher on a 4.0 scale.

3. Must maintain a GPA of 3.2 or higher in Gannon undergraduate courses.

4. Must maintain a GPA of 3.2 or higher in prerequisite courses with no repeated courses

5. GPA will be reviewed at the end of each academic year.

3 + 3 Program Opportunity

Gannon also offers the opportunity to participate in a 3 + 3 program. This program has been designed for qualified students to earn an undergraduate degree and a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree in six years rather than seven. Students who wish to apply must choose a Science or Sport and Exercise Science major and meet the following criteria: