Elnora M. Gilfoyle

Elnora M. Gilfoyle (born 1934) is a retired American occupational therapist, researcher, educator, and university administrator. She worked at several hospitals before accepting a professorship at Colorado State University, later serving as Dean of the College of Applied Human Sciences and Provost/Academic Vice President at that university. She is also a past president of the American Occupational Therapy Association. With research interests in child development, developmental disabilities, and child abuse, she has led studies on the state and federal levels. The co-author of two books and many articles, she was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1996.

Early life and education

She was born Elnora Clausing in 1934 in Ottumwa, Iowa. The family was German-American and had a strong work ethic. Her father believed that girls could do the same work as boys, and Elnora and her two sisters worked alongside their brother in their father's machine shop.

A graduate of Ottumwa High School, she studied home economics at Iowa State University for two years beginning in 1952. She earned an Advanced Certificate in professional occupational therapy from the State University of Iowa in 1958. In 1989 AOTA named her as "one of ten individuals nationwide whose contributions have had a significant impact on the practice, education, and research of the profession".

She received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Colorado State University in 1981, being the first occupational therapist to receive this degree. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1996.

Personal life She married Eugene R. "Gene" Gilfoyle, a Denver native, in 1958. They had one son. They were married for 53 years until her husband's death in November 2010.

Selected bibliography Books (4 volumes) (with Ann P. Grady, Josephine C. Moore) (with Ann Grady, Cathy Nielson, Wendy Coster)

Articles

(with Jeffrey A. Gliner)

(with Charles H. Christiansen)

Videorecording