(Rockville, MD - January 4, 2008) With President Bush recently signing into law H.R. 2764, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation (ASHFoundation) has received a one-year and one-time grant of $268,000 from the United States Department of Education to address the critical shortage of doctoral level students studying in the field of communication sciences and disorders.
The funds will enable the ASHFoundation's New Century Scholars Program to quadruple the number of $10,000 doctoral scholarships it will award in 2008. The grant from the Department of Education caps a three-year effort by ASHFoundation, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), and U.S. Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland).
"We are very pleased that the ASHFoundation will be receiving these funds," ASHFoundation President Dennis Hampton says. "This grant is a huge boost to our New Century Scholars Program, allowing us to extend our reach to approximately 25% of the nation's top doctoral scholars in communication sciences and disorders who will submit applications for funding in 2008."
"The ASHFoundation, ASHA, and its members do great and meaningful work for people of all ages," Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) says. "I am very pleased that this grant will help train audiologist, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists who provide critical services to the growing number of Americans who are affected by communication problems."
To learn about applying for a $10,000 New Century Scholars Doctoral Scholarship from the ASHFoundation, please visit www.ashfoundation.org or contact Emily Diaz via 301-296-8703 or ediaz@asha.org.
Since 1946, the ASHFoundation has awarded nearly $3.8 million to nearly 1,500 doctoral and post-doctoral researchers, graduate students, and leaders in the field. Annually, the ASHFoundation disburses approximately $200,000 to help ensure excellence in training for future generations of professionals, support innovative new research, and provide the best possible treatments for the more than 49 million children and adults with a speech, language or hearing disorder.
A charitable organization, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation promotes a better quality of life for children and adults with communication disorders. Its mission is to advance knowledge about the causes and treatment of hearing, speech, and language problems. The ASHFoundation also raises funds from individuals, corporations, and organizations to support research, graduate education, and special projects that foster discovery and innovation in the field of communication sciences.
The ASHFoundation is affiliated with the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 127,000 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.
Taken from: www.asha.org
