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COMD is Arnold School’s oldest department, awards high number of graduate degrees
August 27, 2010
Elaine Frank
This article is the first that will spotlight the departments of the Arnold School as part of our 35th anniversary celebration.
Students give the Arnold School’s Department of Communication Science and Disorders high marks for an exciting, fulfilling academic program -- with the sweetest part coming at the end.
In the form of professional employment.
“When our students finish, there’s 100 percent employment at graduation,” said Dr. Elaine Frank, the chair of the department since 1999.
COMD is the Arnold School’s oldest department, with an academic lineage dating back to 1968 when a federal grant established it under the wing of the School of Education. With a graduate enrollment of some 175 students, the department is a top producer of master’s and doctoral degree recipients.
Most students hail from South Carolina and the Southeast, but Frank said the school’s reputation is attracting students from across the nation. A doctoral program begun in 1984 is recognized for its outstanding research training.
Additionally, COMD students can be found working as interns at more than 400 locations in South Carolina and around the country. The real-world experience is required to ensure that students can function in settings that include schools, hospitals, rehabilitation centers -- or a private practice.
The demand for speech-pathology specialists continues to grow, driven by increased public school enrollment and the special needs of the state’s aging population, many of whom need help in recovering from strokes, along with other neurological disorders, she said.
Starting salaries for new grads are generous, ranging from $45,000 to $75,000, said Frank, and job satisfaction also is high.
According to CNNMoney.com, speech-language pathology is ranked 27th among a list of the top 50 jobs in the United States.
The school also has attracted some of the most talented researchers in the field:
- The Arnold School’s 2010 Faculty Research Award went to Dr. Julius Fridriksson, director of the Aphasia Laboratory. Fridricksson, who studies the relationships between brain damage and speech/language impairments, is the principal investigator for two RO1 grants from the national Institutes of Health. He is co-investigator with former COMD faculty member, Dr. Chris Rorden, on an NIH grant that is examining brain damage associated with neglect in stroke patients.
- Dr. Dimitar D. Deliyski, an authority on laryngeal high-speed videoendoscopy, is the recipient of the 2010 Manuel Garcia Prize for his contribution to Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica in 2007-2009.
- Dr. Heather Bonilha, a doctoral graduate, was the recipient of a young investigator award sponsored by the Voice Foundation and health science publisher Elsevier.
Frank said the department has a number of goals in its immediate future, including maintaining the high quality of its student body, adding a pair of top-notch faculty members/researchers and increasing the research budget.
Expanding its level of services to the public is important, too. The school’s Speech and Hearing Center already serves some 5,000 clients from the Midlands annually, she said.
Like other departments, COMD feels the crunch for space, and Frank said she would like to find the department more space and a new Speech and Hearing Research Center. Unfortunately, the issue of facilities isn’t unique to COMD. “It’s school-wide.”
COMD’s activities include cochlear implant, stroke recovery, a Hispanic language initiative and auditory-verbal therapy efforts located on campus and beyond. That all of these activities are operating against a background of economic hard times isn’t lost on Frank, but her attitude is that the department is strong and will continue to be a leading force in speech and hearing.
That may be explained, in part, because of the attitude of COMD students who are strong supporters of the program. “The classes offered and professors who teach are phenomenal. I feel fully prepared to enter the workforce with solid background knowledge,” one recent grad wrote on an exit interview.
Students who complete their studies via long distance learning are equally complimentary: “This is an amazing program that allows you to work fulltime and earn you master’s degree. A wonderful experience.”
With 15 years of experience with distance learning, the program produces graduates that rival the quality of those who complete their studies on campus. Both the residential and distance education degrees are highly accredited by the Council on Academic Accreditation of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
(The next department to be profiled will be The Department of Environmental Health Sciences.)
