Communication Science and Disorders Career Awareness Day Planned

Contact:
Gwen O’Brien
Director of Media Relations
Saint Mary’s College
(574) 284-4579

October 20, 2011 (Notre Dame, Ind.)—The Saint Mary’s College chapter of the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association (NSSLHA) is proud to co-host a free event highlighting the professions of communication science and disorders. National Communication Science and Disorders Career Awareness Day will be celebrated at the women’s college on Sunday, October 30 from 1 to 3 p.m. in room 135 of Spes Unica Hall. The event is intended for high school and college students interested in speech-language pathology and audiology. Reservations are not required, but encouraged. Please email or call Susan Latham, assistant professor of communicative disorders, at slatham@saintmarys.edu or (574) 284-4686 to reserve your space. Download a campus map.

Students will take tours of the speech-language therapy rooms and the hearing clinic on campus and hear from a panel of local speech-language pathologists and audiologists as they discuss their passion for their professions. There will also be the opportunity to speak with students majoring in communicative disorders.

“We hope that Communication Science and Disorders Career Awareness Day will help students better understand the professions of speech-language pathology and audiology. They may even discover a career they hadn’t heard of or considered before,” said Lori LeClere ’12, president of the NSSLHA chapter and a communicative disorders major.

She added, “In high school, I didn’t know about speech-language pathologists. Like many other high school and college students discerning their future career paths, I knew of only the obvious career options: doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, etc. I am certain that if students knew more about the fulfilling career of speech-language pathology and audiology, they would discover it might be the profession they’re looking for. Speech-language pathology and audiology are unique professions because they combine interests in a health/medical related field with the personal contact of helping people enrich their quality of life.” LeClere currently is applying to speech-language pathology graduate programs in the Midwest.

In the fall of 2008, Saint Mary’s College offered the communicative disorders major for the first time. It had been a minor since the mid-1990s. It was the first communicative disorders major offered by any college or university in the northern Indiana area. The communicative disorders program is an intensive study of speech, language, and hearing disorders, mild to severe, in people from infants to the elderly. The major is offered through the College’s Department of Psychology and Communicative Disorders. Go to the department's webpage to read profiles on communicative disorders faculty and students.

National Communication Science and Disorders Career Awareness Day at Saint Mary’s College is also sponsored by the Department of Communicative Disorders and is part of the Cross Currents Program’s Collegiate Speakers Series, funded by the Lilly Endowment’s Initiative to Promote Opportunities through Educational Collaborations.

National Communication Science and Disorders Career Awareness Day is an effort by NSSLHA and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). October is the National Communication Science and Disorders Career Awareness Month.

About Saint Mary’s College: Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Ind., is a four-year, Catholic, women’s institution offering five bachelor’s degrees and more than 30 major areas of study. Saint Mary’s College has six nationally accredited academic programs: social work, art, music, teacher education, chemistry and nursing. Saint Mary's College ranks among the top 100 “Best National Liberal Arts Colleges” for 2012 published by U.S.News and World Report. Founded in 1844, Saint Mary’s is a pioneer in the education of women, and is sponsored by the Sisters of the Holy Cross.

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