Dr. Teressa Brown, founding dean of the new School of Physical Therapy, is excited to be standing in a therapy classroom fully equipped for its inaugural students, who are now in the application process Class will begin July 1, 2021.

Brown surveyed opportunities all over the United States before accepting the role of dean and to lead a faculty of 10. She found “a fit in values” with the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education. “This was the only school (among 12) developing a program for all the right reasons,” she said. Physical therapists may help patients with recovery, motion and mobility as early as in the NICU through end of life, she said. 

The 66,000-square-foot facility has lecture halls, a splinting & modality lab, modern physical labs, a rehabilitation clinic and study rooms for a three-year program for a doctor of physical therapy degree. A program in occupational therapy, now reaching accreditation, also will be given here. There is a high need for therapists in Arkansas and Oklahoma, which the school hopes to meet.