Home ⟩News ⟩USC Chan Magazine ⟩Fall 2024

Professor Sharon Cermak’s Retirement Caps Illustrious Career Spanning More than Five Decades

Celebrating the 55-year career of one of occupational therapy’s most prolific researchers studying developmental disorders in children.

After 55 years in occupational therapy, Professor Sharon Cermak officially retired from academia at the conclusion of the 2023-24 academic year. A festschrift — the German word for “celebratory writing” — was held in her honor at the 2024 American Occupational Therapy Association conference featuring remarks and speeches from longtime colleagues and friends.

Cermak earned her bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy from The Ohio State University in 1969; her master’s degree in occupational therapy from Boston University’s (BU) Sargent College in 1971; and her Doctorate of Education degree in Special Education and Teaching from BU in 1981. She began her academic career at BU in 1973, and earned tenure as a full professor in 1994. In 2009, Cermak joined the faculty of the USC Chan Division, with a courtesy joint appointment in the Department of Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

Cermak is among occupational therapy’s most prolific researchers studying developmental disorders in children and the sensorimotor impacts upon children’s occupations in play, academics and family life. This research line began with her earliest work in sensory integration, and progressed to broader issues and contexts impacting motor development, children’s occupations and social participation.

Since 1973, Cermak has published more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles — nearly 100 as lead or senior author — 123 of which are catalogued in Web of Science, the rigorous citation index that serves as the standard dataset for calculating impact metrics. Those Web of Science articles have been cited more than 5,000 times in high-impact journals across rehabilitation, developmental psychology, pediatrics, special education and neuroscience. According to Google Scholar, her work has been cited nearly 14,000 times.

Cermak secured $6.9 million in career funding as principal investigator or program director. She published 31 book chapters, 29 trade publication articles, three proceedings papers and a handwriting assessment tool. She has delivered 19 invited keynote and plenary lectures, and has given more than 450 papers, panels, posters, workshops and short course presentations across the nation and world.

⋯

USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy
1540 Alcazar Street, CHP 133, Los Angeles, CA 90089-9003

ACOTE accreditation | NBCOT certification

The USC entry-level master’s degree program (cost of attendance) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education® (ACOTE®) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). The USC entry-level doctorate in occupational therapy (OTD) degree program (cost of attendance) is accredited by ACOTE®. View our program’s ACOTE® standards public data. ACOTE® c/o the American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.®, 7501 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 510E, Bethesda, MD 20814, (301) 652-AOTA, www.acoteonline.org.

Professional program graduates are eligible to apply for the national certification examination administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy, Inc.® (NBCOT®), nbcot.org. All states require licensure to practice; a felony conviction may affect a graduate’s ability to sit for the NBCOT® OTR certification examination or attain state licensure. Program results from the NBCOT® can be found online at www.nbcot.org/Educators-Folder/SchoolPerformance.