NYU Steinhardt creates Marilyn Moffat Endowed Chair in Physical Therapy to support faculty member

NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development has created the Marilyn Moffat Endowed Chair in Physical Therapy to support a faculty member dedicated to advancing physical therapy through research, teaching, and practice.

Established with $2 million in gifts, the endowed chair honors Marilyn Moffat, a professor of physical therapy at NYU Steinhardt and a recognized leader in the fields of physical therapy, exercise, and healthy aging.

"An endowed professorship is one of the highest honors in academia. Offering a master teacher and researcher a named chair - especially one honoring such an esteemed professor - enables us to recruit an immensely talented individual to the Department of Physical Therapy and the Steinhardt community," said Dominic Brewer, Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of NYU Steinhardt.

The endowed chair - the first to be established in NYU's Department of Physical Therapy - was funded by 426 donors, who were physical therapy alumni and other friends of the department.

"The new endowed chair reinforces our department's commitment to innovative research and will help us to educate the next generation of practitioners and scholars," said Mitchell Batavia, chair of the Department of Physical Therapy at NYU Steinhardt.

"We have always been fortunate to have Marilyn as part of our faculty, given her dedication to the field of physical therapy and to improving the lives of her students and patients, so we are exceedingly pleased to establish this position in her name."

As a professor of physical therapy at NYU, Moffat directs both the doctor of physical therapy (DPT) program and the post-professional master's degree program. She has served as the president of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy, the American Physical Therapy Association, and the New York Physical Therapy Association, and has authored several books on physical therapy, exercise, and aging. Moffat earned a bachelors degree from Queens College and a physical therapy certificate, M.A., and Ph.D. from NYU.

"I am grateful for our alumni and other friends of the Department of Physical Therapy for generously supporting this new position and the future of physical therapy at NYU," said Moffat.

The endowed chair position will be held by a new hire, who will join the Department of Physical Therapy and the Steinhardt School as an associate professor. The department will search for a candidate to fill this position in the coming year.