EDITORS NOTE: Media are welcomed at the Aug. 22 white coat ceremony.
Akron, Ohio, Aug. 2003 - The American Speech-Language Hearing Association has awarded full accreditation to a unique doctoral program in audiology that is being offered jointly by The University of Akron and Kent State University.
The Doctor of Audiology degree program will prepare students to meet new standards set by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, which has mandated the doctoral degree as the entry level for professional practice in audiology by 2007. The Au.D. is a professional, instead of a research, doctoral degree.
Audiologists are hearing care specialists who provide evaluation and treatment for hearing and balance impairments. The Au.D. is designed to educate audiologists for professional practice, explains Dr. Sharon Lesner, coordinator of the Northeast Ohio Au.D. Consortium and a professor in the School of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology at The University of Akron. NOAC is coordinating the four-year post-baccalaureate program that leads to the Doctor of Audiology degree.
The program's first class of students will begin this fall with a "white coat ceremony," a tradition in medical schools across the country.
During the ceremony the 39 incoming students will take the audiology oath and receive their first lab coats to signify their transition from learning in the classroom to the hands-on clinical setting, says Lesner.
The ceremony will take place at 4 p.m. Aug. 22 in the Martin University Center, 105 Fir Hill on the UA campus.
The program is expected to grow to 64 students to become the largest residential Au.D. program in the United States. The degree is offered at about 40 schools across the country.
As the only joint four-year program in Ohio, the Akron/Kent program offers its students the combined expertise and faculties of both campuses as they prepare for careers as clinical practitioners or as administrators in health care settings.
For more information on the new program, call The University of Akron at 330-972-6118 or Kent State at 330-672-2672.
The University of Akron is the public research university for Northern Ohio. Founded in 1870, it is the only university in Ohio, public or private, with a science and engineering program ranked in the top five nationally by U.S. News & World Report. The University of Akron excels in such areas as polymer science, global business, marketing and intellectual property law.
Serving approximately 24,300 students, the University offers more than 350 associate, bachelor's, master's, doctoral and law degree programs and 100 certificate programs at its main campus in Akron, its Wayne College branch campus in Orrville, and at sites throughout Medina and Summit counties. For more information, visit www.uakron.edu.
