Valerie Strunk, D.P.T., PT, is director of clinical education and associate clinical professor in the physical therapy program. Her research into contemporary clinical education models recently led to her appointment to a national task force to define excellence in integrated clinical education.
Prior to her appointment as faculty at the School of Health & Human Sciences, Strunk held a clinical faculty appointment at the University of St. Catherine in Minneapolis from 2004 to 2006. After graduating in 1998 with her M.S. in physical therapy, Strunk practiced clinically in multiple settings, including acute care, adult and pediatric neuro outpatient, and home health, and continued to practice in acute care at Eskenazi Hospital until 2019.
Strunk earned her transitional DPT from the College of St. Scholastica in 2017. She has received numerous awards, including the 2010 School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS) excellence in teaching award, the 2010 INAPTA emerging leader award, the 2016 SHRS sustained excellence in teaching award, the 2017 Anthony D. Certo award for the advancement of physical therapy, and the 2022 Pauline Flesch award for legislative advocacy. Strunk is a level 1 and 2 credentialed clinical instructor and serves as a trainer for the nationally recognized APTA clinical instructor credentialing program.
Strunk’s research interests involve the scholarship of teaching and learning in physical therapy education. She has received numerous internal grants and has been published in the Journal of PT Education and the Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Journal. She has provided national educational sessions and research presentations at the APTA Combined Sections Meeting, the APTA educational leadership conference, and internationally at the World Confederation of Physical Therapy. Strunk has been active in the Indiana APTA chapter, holding past positions as the central district secretary, nominating committee chair, and the Indiana chapter ethics and legislative committees. She is also serving her second term as an elected delegate for the Indiana Chapter of the APTA. She currently serves as the faculty liaison to the PT student mentoring program, and as co-chair of the PT program curriculum committee.
