The 18th Mary Joyce Newsom Lecture and Celebration was hosted by Texas Woman’s University, School of Occupational Therapy, Institute of Health Sciences Houston on April 14, 2010 from 11:30 am to 2:00 pm in Lecture Hall 2120. 

The Lecture will be delivered by Caroline Johnston, OTR, the 2009 recipient of the Newsom award.  A reception and celebration of scholarship will follow in the 8th floor Legacy Room.  Members of the Class of 2010 will exhibit their scholarly works as posters and will be available to discuss them with guests. The event will be co-sponsored by the Institute for Rehabilitation and Research in the Texas Medical Center. 

The award was established to honor Mary Joyce Newsom for her professional contributions and her personal qualities, and to honor and promote student excellence at the Houston Center. Mary Joyce Newsom received both her BS and MA degrees in occupational therapy from Texas Woman’s University. She served as Director of Occupational Therapy at The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research in Houston for 20 years, until she resigned in 1980 because of ill health. Donald and Harriett Davidson, following Miss Newsom’s death, established the Newsom Award fund in 1982. This fund was transferred to the Mary Joyce Newsom Endowment Fund for Occupational Therapy in 1994. The Newsom Award was first given at the Houston Center in 1982, at the time of a recognition ceremony for students leaving the center to go to their Level II fieldwork experiences. In 1994 a separate ceremony was begun, in which the awardees from the prior year returned to TWU to present a lecture to current students. Students, faculty, staff, and community members are invited to the lecture, which is followed by a reception for honoree(s).

The criteria for the award are based on Miss Newsom’s concept of the ideal occupational therapist. Specifically, these include scholarship, professional/community service, and personal characteristics including an ability to see things in perspective, a genuine sense of humor, a commitment to finding better ways to do things, a commitment to the theoretical base of occupational therapy, and a genuine interest in and concern for people.