Department News: Spring 2018

Greetings from the University of Minnesota!

Spring is late arriving this year, but that hasn’t kept us from being enthusiastic and productive. This newsletter highlights some of our work, but before you begin reading the feature articles, I’d like to share with you some updates.

Faculty and Staff News

• Dr. Mark DeRuiter, director of clinical programs and director of graduate studies for the past 10 years, has joined the University of Arizona faculty. We are grateful for his many contributions during his time at the University of Minnesota.
• Dr. Sarah Angerman and Rebecca Lulai were hired as the directors of Clinical Programs in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, respectively. Both Sarah and Becky have years of experience as clinical supervisors here in our department.
• Dr. Lizbeth Finestack, a faculty member, is the director of graduate studies.
• My three-year term is completed and starting next fall Dr. Ben Munson will take over as department chair.
• Dr. Yang Zhang will be the director of undergraduate studies next fall, and we thank Dr. Peter Watson for serving in this position the past three years.

This past year we also welcomed some new colleagues:

Carly (Fleming) Cauley graduated from our MA in SLP program in 2011 and recently returned to Shevlin Hall as a clinical supervisor specializing in working with adult clients with neurological communication needs. We are happy to have her sharing her expertise with our graduate students during their clinical education.

Dr. Shae Fagre, a graduate of the University of Washington AuD program, is a clinical supervisor in audiology. Shae specializes in adult diagnostics and hearing aids with a particular interest in hearing device solutions.

Dr. Matt Winn, a faculty member with a specialty in hearing, will join the department in fall 2018. Matt is currently an assistant professor of audiology at the University of Washington. His research examines factors that contribute to increased mental effort during routine conversational listening for persons with hearing impairment.

Alumni News

Dr. Shelley Brundage (PhD ‘93), a professor at Georgetown University, returned to receive one of CLA’s Alumni of Notable Achievement awards. We are grateful to Shelley's family for creating the Betty L. & Sidney L. Brown, & Shelley Brown Brundage Endowed Scholarship to support undergraduates in the College of Liberal Arts. Each year 4-6 students receive this award.

Student Awards and Degrees Granted

Congratulations to:

• Dr. Jill (Markon) Rentmeester and Dr. Hannah Julien who both earned PhD degrees this past year.
• Clark D. Starr Family Fellowship awardees Annie Albers and Maria Schmidt as well as Megan Baker and Michaela McCabe, both of whom will be joining the SLP MA program next fall.
• Selmer Birkelo recipient Elsa Temte (spring 2017)
• Talle Family Scholarship recipient Marcelina Grochulska (spring 2018)

For those of you interested in supporting the department and our students through the Leslie E. Glaze Fellowship, you can still take advantage of the matching fund program through December 31, 2018, doubling your impact on our students.

Finally, on behalf of our faculty and students, I want to offer my sincere gratitude to all of you who have invested in the Department of Speech-Language- Hearing Sciences and our clinical programs through your advocacy, involvement, and financial support. 

Best wishes for an enjoyable summer!