Rockville, MD - November 8, 2006 -Kate Gottfred, PhD, CCC-SLP, President of Leap Learning Systems in Chicago, Illinois, was recently elected as 2007 President-Elect of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Dr. Gottfred is a speech-language pathologist and has been a member of ASHA for 36 years. During her term as ASHA president, Dr. Gottfred hopes to contribute to ASHA's initiatives by "promoting the unique skill sets and value of services provided by speech-language pathologists and audiologists". Her important issues include concern about the adequate supply of qualified clinicians and the need for empowerment for ASHA members to take leadership positions in their work settings—and she believes these issues are related.
"As professionals, we are intimately involved with many of the major issues facing our country," Dr. Gottfred says. "Those issues include the impact on rehabilitation of the aging baby boomers, the veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with blast injuries, and the increasing awareness of autism. We should be among the primary movers in those areas and it is important that we are involved and we are 'at the table' when these decisions are made. In this vein, I hope to promote that we have a professional skill set that no one else has," she says.
Dr. Gottfred has been an ASHA volunteer leader in several key ways. She served on ASHA's Executive Board and has also been cited with two of the Association's highest honors, being named an ASHA Fellow in 1989 and receiving the Louis M. DiCarlo Award for Outstanding Recent Clinical Achievement. Dr. Gottfred holds a BA from Elmhurst College, and a MA and PhD from Northwestern University.
Indiana University Professor Elected To American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Executive Board
Rockville, MD - November 8, 2006- Elizabeth McCrea, PhD, CCC-SLP, Clinical Professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences and the R.L. Milisen Speech and Hearing Center at Indiana University was recently elected to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's (ASHA) 2007 Executive Board as its Vice President for Academic Affairs in Speech-Language Pathology. An ASHA certified and state licensed speech-language pathologist, Dr. McCrea has been an ASHA member for 37 years. Dr. McCrea has had several roles as an ASHA volunteer leader, including serving in various positions on the Association's Legislative Council, Special Interest Divisions, and Convention Program Committee. She is also an ASHA Fellow, one of the highest honors bestowed by the Association. In addition, Dr. McCrea holds a MEd from the University of Virginia and BA and PhD degrees from Indiana University.
During her tenure, which will last until 2009, Dr. McCrea wants to focus on shaping the future of the professions. "We are being challenged by shortages at both the doctoral level in teaching and research and at the master's level in service provision," McCrea says. "In my Executive Board (EB) role, I will extend the momentum that has already built to address the doctoral shortage. At the master's level, I will look at ways to develop recruitment strategies in non-traditional communities, investigate alternative yet rigorous models for training and, in a collaborative fashion with other ASHA constituencies, help employers retain the clinicians they hire."
As she works toward these goals McCrea plans to serve as an effective liaison between the EB and both the Council on Academic Accreditation and the Council for Clinical Certification as well as the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders.
"It's important for this position to engage undergraduate programs that have had significant influence on their students as they think about the profession and prepare to go on to graduate school."
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 123,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists identify, assess, and treat speech and language problems including swallowing disorders. For more information, log on to ASHA's Web site at www.asha.org or call the Action Center at 1-800-638-8255.
