Head of the Department: Peter J. Alfonso
Correspondence and Information: Head, Department of Speech and Hearing Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 901 South Sixth Street, Champaign, IL 61820; (217) 333-2230
GRADUATE FACULTY
Professors: R. C. Bilger, D. P. Kuehn, E. Yairi
Associate Professors: R. D. Chambers, J. G. Erickson, C. J. Johnson, M. A. O'Neill, F. A. Proctor
Assistant Professors: C. Lansing, A. Perlman, R. Watkins
Emeritus Professors: F. Johnson, E. Paden, J. J. O'Neill, R. K. Simpson, W. R. Zemlin
ADMISSION
In addition to the Graduate College requirements, the general (aptitude)
portion of the Graduate Record Examination is required for all curricula.
Desired background should include 16 hours of undergraduate credit in the
following areas or their equivalent: speech pathology, audiology, phonetics,
anatomy and physiology of the vocal mechanism, hearing science, speech science,
and voice science.
GRADUATE PROGRAMS
The department offers courses leading to the master of arts and doctor of
philosophy degrees, with specialization in audiology, language development and
its disorders, speech or hearing science, and speech pathology.
MASTER OF ARTS
In pursuing a master of arts degree, students may concentrate in one of four
areas: audiology, language development and its disorders, speech and hearing
science, or speech pathology. This degree may be taken as either a terminal
degree or as preparation for further graduate study.
For students seeking a terminal degree, the master of arts program is designed to ensure them clinical competence in audiology or speech/language pathology necessary for employment in a hospital, clinic, residential center, or school system. Successful completion of this program ensures that the student has met the academic and clinical requirements for American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) certification and can possibly qualify for state certification.
For a student seeking a nonterminal degree, the master of arts program enables the student to undertake fundamental course work that will be an integral part of an overall doctoral program.
The student's program for the master of arts degree will be determined on an individual basis, taking into consideration the Graduate College and departmental requirements. It will be composed of 10 to 13 units from the four specialized areas and related areas. At least 61/2 to 7 units must be at the 400 level. The only courses required of all master of arts candidates are Speech and Hearing Science 399 (Design and Analysis of Experiments in Speech and Hearing Science) and Speech and Hearing Science 496 (Proseminar in Speech and Hearing Science). A master's thesis should be part of the predoctoral student's plan of study. A student seeking a master of arts as a terminal degree is encouraged to do a thesis as educational enrichment.
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Admission to the doctoral program requires completion of a master's degree, or
the equivalent, in speech and hearing science or a related area. The program
may be planned with specialization in any one of the four areas: audiology,
language development and its disorders, speech and hearing science, or speech
pathology. The minimum academic course requirements for this degree are 8 units
beyond the master's degree and a thesis. If there are deficiencies in the
student's background, additional courses will be required; courses taken for
this purpose usually are not counted toward the minimum requirement. In
addition, a doctoral candidate who did not write a thesis as part of the
master's program will be required to complete the equivalent of a master's
thesis; these 2 units will not count toward the minimum academic requirement of
8 units. Individual programs of study will be tailored to the student's special
needs and are planned by the student and the adviser.
For the student who enters with no deficiencies, the first year or two of the doctoral program is typically devoted to course work in the area of concentration selected by the student and terminates when the preliminary examination is passed. Subsequent time is devoted to research on a special topic and culminates with writing a thesis and passing an oral examination in its defense.
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