As part of its strategic plan, Augustana is expanding its Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program to Colorado — home to one of the university’s largest alumni bases — in January 2027.
Housed in the university’s School of Health Professions, the launch of the Augustana Doctor of Physical Therapy Program in Colorado (DPT-CO) comes after its DPT program in Minneapolis, Minnesota, graduated its inaugural cohort of 70 students in Spring 2025. The launch also follows the Augustana DPT-MN Program being granted full accreditation status by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) in April 2025.
“Launching the DPT program in Colorado reflects the strategic work to build a regional presence grounded in our mission and strengthened by our alumni connections,” said Augustana’s Dean of the School of Health Professions Dr. Matt Volansky, who started the inaugural DPT-MN program. “The program aligns with our Viking Bold commitment to innovation and expanding access while preparing physical therapists for contemporary practice.”
“I taught at the inaugural Augustana DPT Minnesota (DPT-MN) program for two years and realized this is a great thing,” said Augustana Program Director of DPT-CO Dr. Shelene Thomas, who grew up in Lakewood, Colorado, and now resides in Longmont. “We feel like Colorado is hungry for a progressive, hybrid option. The information age is accelerating and students are able to tolerate a faster, shorter way to enter the profession.”
Just like DPT-MN, DPT-CO will be an accelerated program that prepares graduates to be health care leaders in two years. The program’s hybrid model will combine online learning, lab immersions, as well as clinical education rotations, which will take place across the country. Over the course of the program, students will take online courses for eight weeks and then travel to Englewood, Colorado, for lab immersions. They will spend anywhere from five days to two weeks in Colorado depending on their course load that semester.
“Our hybrid program offers students the ability to learn in place, to continue their career growth wherever they’re at so they don’t have to uproot their family to go to physical therapy school,” said Thomas. “A 2-year program lowers the cost significantly.”
With the inaugural program’s success, the Augustana DPT-CO Program looks to emulate much of what the Augustana DPT-MN program is doing. However, Thomas said there will be a few slight differences, such as strategically placing courses to allow a deeper understanding of the primary care role as a physical therapist. This allows students more preparation for the variety of roles of physical therapists in the future.
“The program in Colorado will also elevate the primary care focus because our scope of practice here is broad. We want PTs to be able to treat people in primary care, assisting other health care providers with patients with acute musculoskeletal injuries, non pharmacological intervention on low back pain and vestibular challenges, etc. PTs are well designed health care providers with significant education in anatomy, and hands on psychomotor skills to help with complex issues of high frequency that need a component of non pharmacological intervention,” noted Thomas. “PTs can practice at the top of their scope here.”
Thomas said her goal for the DPT program in Colorado is to also create the opportunity for its students to be master adaptive learners.
“We can’t teach students everything they need to know for their 30-year career. What we need to do is teach them how to learn. There’s a strategy book I hope to implement in our curriculum that allows students to understand how to learn when they don’t know what’s in front of them, how to be flexible and nimble,” explained Thomas. “We need to teach them how to think critically and adapt, not teach them to regurgitate protocols.”
Augustana has hired five directors to help Thomas lead the program in Colorado and is seeking additional core faculty to start in 2026. The program has a goal of recruiting 80 students in its first year, 90 students in its second year and 100 students in its third year.
DPT-CO is now accepting applications for admittance into the program. To learn more about Augustana’s DPT programs and how to apply, visit augie.edu/DPT.
DPT-CO Accreditation Statement
The Augustana University Doctor of Physical Therapy-Colorado (DPT-CO) Program is planning to submit an Application for Candidacy, which is the formal application required in the pre‑accreditation stage, on May 1, 2025. Submission of this document does not assure that the program will be granted Candidate for Accreditation status. Achievement of Candidate for Accreditation status is required prior to implementation of the professional phase of the program; therefore, no students may be enrolled in professional courses until Candidate for Accreditation status has been achieved. Further, though achievement of Candidate for Accreditation status signifies satisfactory progress toward accreditation, it does not assure that the program will be granted accreditation.