Communication Disorders & Sciences had a great year, marked by several new initiatives that will pave the way for the future. It is incredibly rewarding to provide leadership for a faculty who embrace change and are willing to consistently evaluate procedures to determine if a process can be improved! Let me summarize a few of the highlights from this year.
Dr. Tina Veale, Jill Fahy, and Angela Beckman joined the tenure-track faculty. We were able to hire Dr. Candice Osenga, who will join the faculty in August 2007 as the staff audiologist. This adds an additional faculty member to our total, allowing us to accept a few more graduate students. Our reputation is growing! We now have 150 undergraduate majors and had 180 completed graduate applications to review for the 2007-2008 academic year. The clinical expertise developed in our students continues to be our hallmark! Students in the department are exemplary, winning prestigious scholarships and presenting at ASHA, ISHA, and other professional conferences. Faculty also continue to garner awards, with Lynn Calvert, We officially began the application process to be a Graduate First Choice Program, a designation initiated by the Graduate Dean, Dr. Bob Augustine. The final review and decision will be made this fall.
Several curricular changes are undergoing review. Faculty are exploring the addition of an initial summer semester at the beginning of the master’s program. This would result in a six semester program, but lighten the load a bit during the fall and spring semesters on campus, while allowing a more gradual orientation to graduate expectations. It would still allow a full semester in both medical and educational internships, but require four semesters on campus rather than only three. The accreditation expectations and expanding scope of practice are stretching faculty and students to breaking point in the current five semester program. We are also exploring a five semester program for undergraduate transfer students for the same reasons; compacting the entire program into four semesters is rapidly becoming impossible to accomplish.
The Department completed the second year in an internally funded grant program to develop and purchase equipment and software for an Augmentative/Alternative Laboratory. This has allowed CDS to train faculty and students in the latest innovations for technology use to facilitate communication. It also enhances the services that can be provided to the public in the EIU Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic, both for diagnostic assessment and treatment. And thanks to your generosity, clients will be enjoying new waiting room furniture! The 20 year-old furniture is finally being replaced this summer.
The most exciting news is that the CDS Department has volunteered to pilot a laptop initiative for the university. Faculty incorporation of technology continues to expand into everyday academic and clinic responsibilities. The clinic is working toward becoming paperless, with the use of an imaging software system. Diagnostic reports, lesson plans, and treatment hours are all kept electronically. Classroom projects incorporate computer simulations and web-based materials. Equipment money was used to purchase tablet laptop computers for half of the faculty, to begin modification of their teaching materials. The planning will continue through 2007-2008, with a Fall 2008 implementation. The website also received a facelift this year, with some revisions into a more uniform EIU format.
The CDS Department has enjoyed incredible support from the EIU administration, including President Lou Hencken, who often cited our department in his public speeches as an example of excellence. After 41 years of employment at EIU, 6 as President, Lou retired June 30. The new president is Dr. William Perry, who began his term as the 10th President of EIU on July 1, 2007. Dr. Perry was previously at Texas A& M, but is returning to the midwest roots where he completed his master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. It will be an interesting year for the university and department with new leadership and new initiatives on the horizon. Stay tuned!
