How LSU Health Shreveport and Strelis™ moved a new hybrid DPT expansion from approval to its first cohort.
LSU Health Shreveport set out to expand its established Doctor of Physical Therapy program into Lafayette through a new hybrid model designed to extend access and help strengthen the physical therapy workforce in Southwest Louisiana. The partnership was built around that institutional goal from the start.
Bringing the Lafayette expansion program to life meant working through far more than the curriculum. LSUHS needed to determine how hybrid delivery would fit its academic model, how faculty should be prepared to teach in a blended delivery model, how accreditation requirements would be addressed, how students would move between online and on-campus immersion, and how a new program in a new market would be introduced to prospective students.
Strelis worked alongside the LSUHS team through those decisions. Strelis PT Entry™ provided a curricular foundation for the hybrid program, while consulting expertise supported accreditation requirements, faculty coaching, curriculum implementation, student recruitment, and ongoing program planning and assessment.
LSUHS retained academic authority and ownership throughout. The academic leadership made programmatic decisions, and the faculty shaped and delivered the student experience. Most importantly, the program was built around the university’s mission, vision, standards, resources, clinical relationships, and priorities.
Start with the institution. Understand what it is trying to accomplish. Build the support around that.
Securing approval
Accreditation for the Lafayette expansion program was one of the first major milestones.
Strelis supported LSUHS in preparing its Application for Approval of Substantive Change (AASC), including work connected to CAPTE Standards 4, 6, and 7. Approval was granted in late 2025. The curriculum was then aligned with the 2024 CAPTE Standards to guide implementation and support LSUHS’s preparation for future reaccreditation.
With approval in place, the work shifted from planning to implementation. Curriculum, faculty, lab experiences, assessments, student support, and operational decisions all had to come together before the first cohort arrived.
Preparing faculty for hybrid teaching
Hybrid education changes more than where students learn. It changes how, when, and where faculty interact with students. In strong hybrid programs, faculty presence extends far beyond the residential classroom. Students meet each week during synchronous online sessions with their faculty in addition to working on asynchronous learning activities. Both synchronous and asynchronous learning activities prepare students to be 100% engaged during on-campus immersion sessions.
LSUHS needed faculty who could make deliberate choices about what students should learn asynchronously, where live interaction adds the most value, and which experiences need to happen face-to-face. Strelis advised LSUHS on the capabilities that would support the model, while LSUHS retained responsibility for faculty selection and hiring.
Core and associated faculty then participated in 10 coaching sessions covering areas such as essentials of hybrid learning, the neurobiology of learning, assessment essentials, and managing the hybrid classroom. Faculty also received individual mentoring related to distance education and LMS integration.
Faculty surveys evaluated the coaching sessions. Across responding faculty, 95% rated the development experience Agree or Strongly Agree across all measures. Faculty translated the coaching into specific course-level plans, refining how they would sequence learning, structure assessment, and use active learning to strengthen application, retention, and clinical reasoning.
As the program moved closer to launch, coaching became increasingly practical, helping faculty work through how those strategies would function within their courses and with their students
Designing the hybrid learning experience
Strelis helped provide curriculum infrastructure, but LSUHS determined how that curriculum should work within its Lafayette model and LSUHS culture.
The team worked through curriculum sequencing, laboratory experiences, practical examinations, faculty roles, and the use of associated faculty for on-campus immersions.
The Mobility Training course provides one example. Students reviewed Foundational content asynchronously, and then synchronous online sessions focused on applying the learning to case vignettes and clarifying key points. During on-campus immersions, students practiced hands-on skills with direct faculty coaching and feedback. Students also engaged with patients from the community and participated in summative assessments such as written and practical examinations. The team employed associated faculty to enrich the on-campus immersions, ensuring that experts from a variety of clinical environments were available.
Regular leadership meetings helped connect those academic and operational decisions across faculty hiring, immersion schedules, student support, program policies, curriculum delivery, and preparation for the charter class.
Together, those decisions shaped a Lafayette program that reflected LSUHS’s mission, academic priorities, faculty model, clinical resources, and approach to student learning.
Supporting recruitment for a new location
Launching in Lafayette also required LSUHS to introduce a new program in a market where it did not yet have an established enrollment history. Strelis supported that work through marketing and recruitment consulting, including PTCAS optimization, prospective-student communications, and recruitment materials.
The objective was to help LSUHS communicate the value of the program it had built clearly and consistently while the academic and operational model moved into implementation.
Building toward the future
With the first cohort underway, LSUHS can now evaluate the program through the experience of its faculty and students. LSUHS and Strelis have set priorities through 2028, including continued faculty development, student recruitment and retention, NPTE preparation, program assessment, and readiness for reaccreditation.
Each priority builds on the curriculum, faculty preparation, and accreditation work completed before the first student arrived. The focus now is on using that experience to strengthen the Lafayette program while continuing to reflect LSUHS’s mission, academic standards, and long-term goals.
