Anonymous donors sponsor 20 students to hear from iconic Lela Llorens
November 15, 2021

By Mike McNulty

Two anonymous donors underwrote the event registration fees so that 20 USC Chan students could attend the 19th Annual Afternoon Tea with a Scholar, which was virtually hosted by the Occupational Therapy Association of California on Nov. 14.

The talk featured Dr. Lela Llorens, a former adjunct faculty member at USC and a renowned figure within occupational therapy. Llorens is the first Black/African American person to have received the American Occupational Therapy Association’s Eleanor Clarke Slagle Lectureship, the profession’s highest academic honor.

The donors’ generosity was explicitly intended to increase accessibility of the professional development event for students who may have perceived financial barriers to attending.

“Money is tight when you’re in school, and because of that, you just can’t do everything you would love to do,” said Monica Guy MA ’22. “Having the option to attend Afternoon Tea with a Scholar made me jump on it, and allowed me to take advantage of an opportunity that I was very interested in and looked forward to.”

“What I took from the discussion with Dr. Llorens is to toot OT’s horn every chance we get,” said Hilary Stanek MA ’22. “Dr. Llorens is going to be retiring from all speaking engagements in a little over a year when she turns 90, so getting to see her as her epic career is winding down was very special.”

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