UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — College of Education alumna Rachel Wiley is among those recognized this year by the Penn State Alumni Association with the Alumni Achievement Award. The award recognizes alumni 35 years of age and younger for their extraordinary professional accomplishments. These prominent young alumni demonstrate to students that Penn State alumni succeed in exceptional fashion at an early age.
As part of her visit to campus to accept her award, Wiley spoke to a group in Foster Auditorium in Paterno Library on March 16 and to a rehabilitation and human services class on March 17.
Wiley, who graduated in 2011 with a degree in rehabilitation and human services, is founder and owner of Day By Day Home Therapy, Day By Day Dementia Consulting, and the Dementia Collaborative in Devon, Pennsylvania. She also is a certified master trainer of Skills2Care through Jefferson Elder Care and trains occupational therapists around the country in the Skills2Care program. She also trains occupational therapists from around the country in best practices for dementia patient therapy and volunteers as an advisory council member of the Dementia Society of America.
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that about 5.8 million people in the United States have Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, including 5.6 million age 65 and older and about 200,000 younger than age 65 with younger-onset Alzheimer’s.
“For more than 15 years, Rachel Wiley has been working with — and enriching the lives of — individuals with dementia and their families,” said Kim Lawless, dean of the College of Education. “My own father passed away after suffering from Alzheimer’s, so this work is very near and dear to my heart. The dignity the caregivers provided to my father as he lost touch with everything he held so dear was priceless. Practitioners like Rachel honor those that could be forgotten by society. She is a shining example to our current students in rehabilitation and human services of the good that they can do and the true difference they can make in people’s lives. Our RHS program creates educators like Rachel that preserve all that is good in humanity.”
While on campus to accept her award, Wiley presented “Understanding & Handling Dementia-Related Challenges” to an audience in Paterno Library’s Foster Auditorium, and gave a guest talk in RHS 100: Introduction to Disability Culture, a course designed to increase student awareness of personal, interpersonal, and societal aspects of disability, including how disability can be defined and understood differently in varied individual, institutional and cultural contexts.
Previously, Wiley was an adjunct faculty member in the occupational therapy departments at Thomas Jefferson University and Temple University. She also worked as the occupational therapist and dementia service coordinator for the Pew Charitable Trust Grant with Jefferson Elder Care.
Wiley is a past gerontology chair for the Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association’s (POTA) District V Board and received the association’s 2019 OT Award of Recognition for “Innovator in Specialized Dementia Care.” She currently is an advisory council member for the Dementia Society of America.
An expert in dementia care, Wiley is a highly sought-after speaker and has delivered keynote speeches, workshops and talks to local and national organizations. She also co-authored a chapter in the text, “Dementia Rehabilitation: Evidence-Based Interventions and Clinical Recommendations.”
As a student at Penn State, Wiley founded the Occupational Therapy Club, which helps guide aspiring occupational therapists through the graduate school application process and organizes professional development and volunteer activities for its members. She remains engaged with her alma mater, including serving as a panelist for the College of Education 2020 GOLD Women’s Leadership Conference.
In addition to her undergraduate degree from Penn State, Wiley holds a master’s in occupational therapy from Thomas Jefferson University.