A Warm West Virginia Welcome!
On behalf of the faculty and staff of the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology at West Virginia University, I extend a most sincere welcome. As department chair, I feel privileged to be able to represent such an engaged and talented community of faculty, staff, and students. Known on campus as “SPA,” our department includes 15 full-time faculty, three full-time office staff, and a cadre of highly experienced clinical supervisors—all working to provide the highest quality academic and clinical education for over 250 undergraduate and graduate students and state-of-the-art clinical services for scores of children and adults with a wide variety of communication disorders. Although a name like SPA may conjure an image of idle relaxation, in reality, Speech Pathology and Audiology is a department on the move. SPA is actively engaged in research and scholarship, innovative in its teaching and clinical education, and strongly committed to its advocacy and outreach efforts. Housed within the College of Human Resources and Education in Allen Hall on the Evansdale campus, SPA strives to advance the mission of the University by working to deliver high-quality education, excel in discovery and innovation, model a culture of diversity and inclusion, promote health and vitality, and build pathways for the exchange of knowledge and opportunity between the state, the nation, and the world within our broad and important discipline.
Our Bachelor of Science in Speech Pathology and Audiology curriculum, one of only three such undergraduate programs in the state of West Virginia, provides students with a thorough overview of communication sciences and disorders, while delivering a balanced liberal arts education. SPA majors are introduced to the fields of speech-language pathology and audiology and are given the opportunity to observe and assist therapy in the WVU Speech and Hearing Centers. Majors develop a capstone project toward the end of their program, producing a work of authentic scholarship that they then present in written, oral, and visual (poster) form.
Our Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology program is one of two in West Virginia, whereas our Doctor of Audiology program stands alone in the Mountain State. Both of these professional programs are accredited by the Council on Academic Accreditation of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, with curricula that have been carefully designed (and continually updated) to address the full scope of practice in all settings that employ speech-language pathologists and audiologists. Our professional coursework is supplemented by clinical experiences both in the WVU Speech and Hearing Centers and in a variety of off-campus settings that include hospitals, rehabilitation centers, public schools, special education facilities, private practices, and clinics. In addition to local community outreach efforts, our students participate actively in the WVU chapters of the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the Student Academy of Audiology.
Of particular note is the inauguration of our newest program, the Doctor of Philosophy in Communication Sciences and Disorders. This post-professional graduate program has been designed to provide a rigorous course of study along with mentored research and teaching experiences to enable speech-language pathologists or audiologists to assume careers as researchers and scholars at universities, hospitals, industrial settings, and other facilities dedicated to research. The Ph.D. degree program is a first for our department as well as for the state of West Virginia.
Our distinguished faculty is committed to the education of the next generation of speech-language pathologists and audiologists, to advancing the discipline of communication sciences and disorders, and, above all, to making a difference in the lives of children and adults with communication disorders. Well recognized for their expertise in the wide-ranging areas within the discipline, just peruse the latest issue of our department newsletter, the Mouth ‘n’ Ear, and you will surely see the diversity of their scholarship. Several faculty members have written widely used textbooks or have contributed important research articles and book chapters in prestigious publications.
Once again, welcome to SPA. Please explore our website and feel free to contact me or any other member of the department for further information.