Graduate Program
The Communication Sciences and Disorders Department has about 195 undergraduate majors, 80 graduate students, and a faculty and staff of 30.
Students in the Department hail from all over the nation. Upon leaving the University, our graduates enter the clinical, teaching, and research fields throughout the United States. While in school, Communication Sciences and Disorders graduate students conduct original research, participate in symposia, and may serve as research assistants, teaching assistants, or assistant instructors. Many of our students publish scholarly articles or deliver papers at professional meetings. We are proud of the high level of professional involvement of our students. All of those who have earned a Ph.D. in our Department have obtained faculty or other professional positions.
We offer Speech Language Pathology (Ph.D., Master's) and Audiology (Ph.D., Au.D.) programs. Our graduate program is tailored to individual students. Students develop a plan of study in consultation with their faculty advisory committees. Ordinarily, an M.A. program is completed in five semesters, an Au.D. degree in four years and a Ph.D. in three or four years after completion of the M.A. We encourage most students in the doctoral program to create a four year full-time Ph.D. work plan since it is quite difficult to produce a high quality dissertation if the student is not in residence.
Specializations - MA program in SLP
In response to changes in the ASHA certification standards (the new Knowledge and Skills Assessment–KASA–framework), we have restructured the curriculum to provide a set of core "foundations" courses with comprehensive coverage of the field. These are supplemented by elective course work, which enables students to delve more deeply into topics of special interest or to broaden their expertise. Specialization is still possible, and it is encouraged. But it is done on a more individual basis and with more flexibility than was possible under the previous system of "tracks".
Bilingualism
Effective Fall 2007 the CSD department will offer a Bilingual / Multicultural certificate (with an emphasis on Spanish/English bilingual populations) to students at the MA level in Speech Language Pathology. The purpose of the certificate is to foster the development of the competencies required to serve bilingual individuals with communication disorders.