2023 Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Newsletter
Message from the Chair
Department Spotlights
Department Kudos
Alumni Class Notes
Message from the Chair
Hello everyone! This past year, the SLHS department has been busy with a number of initiatives as we continue to provide excellent academic and clinical education and research opportunities to our students. Our active Alumni Council is also working on some exciting events; be on the lookout for communications from them in the coming months! The council coordinates our popular annual Community Career Conversations event that brings together alumni and current students to talk about how SLPs work in different employment settings. If you are interested in participating in this virtual (zoom) event, please email me.
I do have some very sad news to report. Amanda (Mandee) Kulaga Parker, a member of our MA class of 2015, passed away in September after an almost two-year battle with breast cancer. She is survived by her husband of 10 years, Josh, and their young daughter Sophie. Members of the class of 2015 are working on ways of remembering Mandee and once they decide on their plans, I will communicate them to the SLHS community. I’ve been reflecting and remembering Mandee’s intelligence, her voice (as a member of SLHS’s one-and-only a cappella group, the Soap Notes) and that twinkle that she always seemed to have in her eye.
On a positive note, our department was one of the few departments in the college last year to be allowed to search for a new faculty member. I am pleased to announce that our search was successful, and Dr. Sana Smaoui has joined our SLHS community. Dr. Smaoui’s expertise is in dysphagia and we look forward to having an active research lab in this area in our department. SLHS faculty continue their research and teaching endeavors and are always excited to hear from alumni. Please keep in touch and let us know what’s happening in your corner of the world!
Be well,
Shelley Brundage
Professor and Chair
Department Spotlights
Dr. Sana Smaoui Joins SLHS Faculty
The Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences is pleased to welcome our newest faculty member, Dr. Sana Smaoui.
Dr. Smaoui received her PhD from the University of Toronto’s Temerity Faculty of Medicine with a collaborative specialization in neuroscience. As a licensed speech-language pathologist in Ontario, Canada, Dr. Smaoui has practiced in a number of clinical settings and with a varied patient population across the University Health Network and Unity Health Toronto hospital systems. She is a board-certified specialist in swallowing and swallowing disorders and has worked in the field as a clinician, clinical supervisor and practice-based researcher.
Dr. Smaoui’s research work to date has explored the relationship between hyoid kinematics, tongue pressure and swallowing safety both in a healthy cohort and in a clinical group of patients with dysphagia post-stroke. Her clinically focused research interests include the identification and rehabilitation of swallowing disorders. Her work has been published in, among other journals, Dysphagia, The American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and The Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.
GW NSSLHA Wins Third Gold Award for Service and Advocacy
For the third year in a row, the George Washington University’s chapter of The National Student Speech Language and Hearing Association (NSSLHA) received Gold Chapter Honors. GW’s chapter is one of only 93 chapters in the United States and Puerto Rico to receive Gold Chapter Honors. Professor Melanie-Joy Dorn serves as the faculty advisor to GW NSSLHA.
Through its annual honors program, NSSLHA recognizes outstanding affiliated chapters that have made significant contributions to CSD programs, the national organization and their local chapters. Chapter honors are awarded at the bronze, silver and gold levels.
The GW NSSLHA chapter’s 80+ members engaged in many activities throughout the year to earn the Gold Award. Members increased awareness of communication sciences and disorders (CSD) on campus and in nearby communities as well as through virtual platforms; increased advocacy efforts by sending letters to state and federal legislators; raised funds to contribute toward scholarships for students in communication sciences and disorders programs and supported CSD-related organizations through donations and hours of chapter members’ time. This hard work paid off and GW’s chapter won the Gold Award again this year!
Department Kudos
- Drs. James Mahshie, Cynthia Core and their colleague Mike Larsen’s 2023 ASHA Convention presentation titled “Prediction of Consonant Production Accuracy in Children with Cochlear Implants: Possible Mediating Factors” has been designated as an ASHA Convention Changemaker Session, one of only a few to receive this recognition.
- Numerous SLHS faculty—including Professors Adrienne B. Hancock, Melanie-Joy H Dorn, Michael J. Bamdad and Shelley B. Brundage—served on ASHA Convention program committees for the 2023 convention.
- Professor Laura Barrett has been chosen to be a CAA site visitor for a term of for years. She will be part of a team that performs two site visits per year at universities across the country.
- One of our graduate students, Amrita Grewal, was chosen as the CCAS Graduate Distinguished Scholar for the 2022-2023 academic year. Amrita gave a speech to the graduates at the May 19 Celebration ceremony. She also received the departmental Diane Brewer Leadership Award.
- In fall 2022, the SLHS clinic completed 1318 client appointments. There were 1,326 appointments completed in spring 2023. These appointments, in combination with appointments completed on student externships, resulted in the provision of over 20,000 hours of speech pathology services this year by our students, with mentoring from clinical educators and externship supervisors. We thank our externship supervisors, some of whom are likely reading this newsletter! If you are interested in serving as an externship supervisor, please contact the department.
Alumni Class Notes
- Melanie-joy Dorn, MA ’91, teaches and advises undergraduate students in the department of Hearing and Sciences at GW and also on the board of directors at The Stroke Comeback Center.
- Mara Friedman, MA ’97, is working for Progressive Pediatric Therapy and is so excited to be involved with an organization called Love Serving Autism.
- Patricia Gaffney, BA ’01, received the Outstanding Educator award from the American Academy of Audiology and works as a professor at Nova Southeastern University.
- Jacqueline Gorman, MA ’74, after practicing as an SLP for 36 years, now owns a 60 horse boarding stable in Prescott, Az.
- Chiara Scarpelli, BA ’14, is living in San Francisco and working at UCSF Children’s Hospital with pediatric patients with hearing loss.
- Jeanne Taylor, MA ’75, lived in Maryland for 40 years raising a family and pursuing her career as a speech language pathologist in school and clinic settings.
- Eliza Taylor, BA ’00, is celebrating five years as an assistant clinical professor in the department of Hearing and Speech Sciences at University of Maryland-College Park.