Reston, Virginia (August 6, 2014)—Last month, Drs. Susan and Jim Jerger were honored on the occasion of their retirement from The University of Texas at Dallas’ School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. During the celebration in their honor, Bert Moore, PhD, Dean of the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Angela Shoup, PhD, chair of the American Academy of Audiology Foundation Board, and Ross Roeser, PhD, Executive Director Emeritus of the UT Dallas Callier Center for Communication Disorders, announced that the two organizations were joining forces to raise funds for the newly established Susan and Jim Jerger Research in Audiology Fellowship. The fellowship will support the studies and research of exceptional audiology doctoral students at the UT Dallas Callier Center.
(From left) Audiologists and colleagues Brad Stach, Angela Shoup and Ross Roeser join Jim and Susan Jerger, and Bert Moore, Dean, UT Dallas School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and Hobson Wildenthal, UTDallas Provost, at the retirement party honoring the Jergers in June.
Faculty and staff of UT Dallas, colleagues, friends and family travelled from around the country to honor the Jergers at the June celebration. Speeches of appreciation were provided by Dr. Moore and Hobson Wildenthal, PhD, UT Dallas Executive Vice President and Provost. Previous students and colleagues Brad Stach, PhD, and Jeff Martin, PhD, also gave moving tributes to the honorees, and Dr. Roeser surprised everyone with a video of well wishes from colleagues across the globe. (The video can be accessed online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqZfo1ow138.)
One of the highlights of the evening was the announcement that UT Dallas will match donations for the fellowship up to $25,000. As such, the AAA Foundation is working to raise at least $25,000 to ensure that the Fellowship is endowed at the $50,000 level. “The establishment of the Jerger Fellowship is an especially fitting tribute to the Jergers, given their many contributions to the science and community of audiology,” stated Dr. Roeser. “I hope all those whose professional or personal lives have been touched by Susan and Jim will join me in making a gift to the AAA Foundation in honor of these two very special people.”
The Jergers have a long history with both the Academy and UT Dallas. The Jergers relationship with the American Academy of Audiology dates back to the creation of the organization. On January 30, 1998, they hosted the meeting of thirty-two audiologists that is to this day considered the Founders Day for the Academy. Jim Jerger also served as the Academy’s first president, and as editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Academy of Audiology from its inception in 1989 until 2011.
Additionally, Jim Jerger is Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the UT Dallas School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and he is affiliated with the programs in Cognition and Neuroscience and Communication Sciences and Disorders at the Callier Center. Jerger joined the faculty at UT Dallas in 1997. His current research interests focus on auditory processing disorders in both children and seniors.
Dr. Susan Jerger is the Ashbel Smith Professor and director of the Undergraduate Honors Program in the UT Dallas School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. She directs the UT Dallas Children's Speech Processing Lab, a research site that studies multimodal speech perceptual development and lexical development and how development is affected by childhood hearing loss. She also is affiliated with the Cognitive Psychology, Developmental Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology programs. Susan Jerger was editor-in-chief of Ear and Hearing from 1992 to 2001.
Friends and colleagues of the Jergers who wish to make a tax-deductible contribution for the Susan and Jim Jerger Research in Audiology Fellowship should contact Kathleen Devlin Culver in the AAA Foundation office (kculver@audiology.org or 800.222.2336, ext. 1049) or mail checks to AAAF, 11480 Commerce Park Dr., Suite 220, Reston, VA 20191. Gifts can also be made online at audiologyfoundation.org. The Jergers will receive notification of all gifts made to the AAA Foundation in their honor.
About the American Academy of Audiology Foundation (AAAF)
The American Academy of Audiology Foundation’s mission is to promote philanthropy in support of research, education, and public awareness in audiology and hearing science. The AAAF works closely with the American Academy of Audiology to fund research grants; to sponsor educational opportunities for students, audiologists and other hearing professionals; and to increase public understanding of the causes, treatments, and prevention of hearing loss. The AAAF is exempt under 501(c)(3) of the IRS code, and all gifts are tax deductible as allowed by law. For more information, visit the AAAF website at www.audiologyfoundation.org.
About The University of Texas at Dallas’ Callier Center for Communication Disorders
The University of Texas at Dallas is an innovative institution in the heart of North Texas on the path to achieving Tier One national research university status. UT Dallas has grown since its founding in 1969 to include 133 degree programs, with cutting-edge curricula serving a variety of undergraduate and graduate student interests. The university continues its original commitment to providing some of the state's most-lauded science and engineering programs and has also gained prominence for a breadth of educational paths, from criminology to biomedical engineering to arts and technology.
The Callier Center for Communication Disorders at The University of Texas at Dallas is dedicated to helping children and adults with speech, language and hearing disorders connect with the world. At the center’s heart is a time-honored commitment to a three-part mission: to provide outstanding, leading-edge clinical services, to conduct meaningful and innovative basic and applied research in new treatments and technologies, and to train the next generation of caring clinical providers. For more information, visit the Callier Center’s website at www.utdallas.edu/calliercenter.
