The Employee Recognition Committee of Staff Senate would like to congratulate the Department of Communication Disorders for the Department of the Month for August. The faculty seven tenure-track, one full-time lecturer and two part-time lecturers are committed to providing a quality instructional program in speech-language pathology based on the standards established by the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology.
The department offers undergraduate and graduate courses in the discipline, as well as a clinic in which students gain experience in working with communicatively handicapped individuals under the supervision of the faculty. Undergraduate and graduate courses are sequenced to provide students with both basic and specialized professional knowledge and skills leading to the preparation of certified speech-language pathologists. Students who complete the masters program meet all of the academic and practicum requirements for the Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) in speech-language pathology, issued by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and Nebraska State Licensure. Graduates also qualify for the educational endorsement in speech-language pathology issued by the Nebraska Department of Education.
The faculty has been instrumental in developing initiatives and promoting research projects over the past several years that have broadened and strengthened the curriculum in the department.
Program highlights include:
- The clinic has provided diagnostic and therapeutic services for more than 300 clients each year—approximately 16,000 clock hours.
- Faculty and students have provided free hearing tests for approximately 6,000 agricultural workers at Husker Harvest Days in the past seven years.
- UNK graduates in speech-language pathology currently fill one-third of the positions in educational setting in the state and 80 percent of speech-language pathologists west of York are UNK graduates.
- UNK graduates in speech-language pathology have achieved a 100 percent employment rate since the graduate program began in 1975.
- Program pass rate for the national certification exam is 92 percent, considerably higher than the national average of 79.8 percent.
- Within the last 10 years, 99 percent of UNK undergraduates have been accepted into graduate degree programs. Six have been accepted into programs leading to the doctoral degree.
Staff Senate recognizes the Department of Communication Disorders for the valuable services provided to students, the campus, the community and the state, and designates them the Department of the Month for August.