{"id":2744,"date":"2025-08-21T10:32:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T17:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/speech-hearing-sciences\/?page_id=2744"},"modified":"2025-10-16T10:30:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T17:30:04","slug":"100-years","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/speech-hearing-sciences\/100-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Wavelength: A Department 100 Years in the Making\u202f\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\n\t
\n\t\n<\/div>\n\n\t
<\/div>\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\r\n \n
\r\n\t\n\n

<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\r\n\n\n

\r\n\t\n
\r\n \n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Wavelength<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

AUGUST 2025 NEWSLETTER<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n\n\n

\r\n\t\n\n

<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\r\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Art and Science of Speech and Hearing: A Department 100 Years in the Making<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From the theater stage of the Roaring Twenties to the twenty-first-century speech-language pathology clinic, Washington State University\u2019s Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences has evolved over the past century\u2014from an art to a science.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department traces its roots to 1925, when Professor Maynard Lee Daggy, namesake for Daggy Hall on the Pullman campus, established WSU\u2019s first Department of Speech in the School of Fine Arts.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been here since the beginning. That longevity speaks volumes\u2014not just about our value to the university and to the clinical communities we serve, but also about the value of an education in speech and hearing sciences.\u201d<\/p>\nGail Chermak, PhD, professor emerita and chair, 1990\u20132021 <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been here since the beginning,\u201d said Professor Emerita Gail Chermak, PhD, who served as department chair from 1990 to 2021. \u201cThat longevity speaks volumes\u2014not just about our value to the university and to the clinical communities we serve, but also about the value of an education in speech and hearing sciences.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Century of Communication: From Elocution to Evidence-Based Practice <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Soon after arriving at WSU, Daggy reorganized the school\u2019s existing \u201coral expression\u201d courses into three new units: Theatre Arts and Drama, Rhetoric and Communication Studies, and Communication Disorders, the latter being the forerunner of the modern Speech and Hearing Sciences department. The nascent field of \u201cspeech correction\u201d coalesced into a national association in the same period, reflecting a growing interest in the topic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSpeech is the most salient aspect of communication\u2014it\u2019s what people notice first,\u201d said Professor Amy Meredith, PhD, CCC-SLP, chair from 2021 to 2025. \u201cIn the early days, an emphasis on elocution and \u2018correct speech\u2019 was a catalyst for our profession.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

World War II brought more students to the school and accelerated the development of speech pathology as a distinct field of health care. In keeping with these shifts, the department\u2019s Communication Disorders unit began to adopt an increasingly clinical approach to addressing speech and language disorders and hired its first faculty trained in speech pathology.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students gained hands-on experience at the department\u2019s state-of-the-art Communication Disorders Clinic and later through a partnership with a private clinic in Spokane, which would grow into a regional hub for medical education and specialized health care. The program received accreditation by the mid-1970s, now granting master\u2019s degrees in speech pathology and audiology.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Videotaped<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"1970<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Graduste<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"3<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"SHS<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A New Identity and Academic Expansion: Speech and Hearing Sciences <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By the late 1980s, the speech department\u2019s more artistic and scientific units had diverged to the point of restructuring, with theatre and drama joining the School of Music and rhetoric and media courses migrating to what is now the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1987, the department was renamed Speech and Hearing Sciences in recognition of the discipline\u2019s increasingly comprehensive approach to the science of human communication.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That same year, WSU and Eastern Washington University launched a 35-year partnership to expand health care education and research programming in Spokane. Outgrowing Daggy Hall in Pullman, the department began to consolidate its programs at WSU\u2019s growing Spokane campus, training students in a variety of clinical settings across the city.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another key achievement in this era was the department\u2019s Native Americans in Communication Disorders Personnel Training Project. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, then-Associate Professor Ella Inglebret, PhD, led a nearly twenty-year initiative to recruit and train Native American students in advanced speech pathology and audiology programs, helping expand culturally tailored care for a population disproportionately affected by some communication disorders.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department\u2019s support for these communities continues in the form of the endowed J. Richard Franks Scholarship for Native American Students in Speech and Hearing Sciences, named for the faculty member who first secured federal funding for the training project.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joining the College of Medicine: New Era, New Possibilities <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The most recent decade has marked a shift for the department and opened new opportunities for clinical and community initiatives.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2015, Speech and Hearing Sciences became the founding department of WSU\u2019s newly created Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. After an itinerant path through WSU\u2019s administrative divisions, the department found its home alongside cutting-edge medical education and research to train speech-language pathologists and other professionals equipped to serve in an increasingly interprofessional health care landscape.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur colleagues in medicine understand us. We speak the same language,\u201d Chermak said. \u201cJoining the College of Medicine allowed us to grow and collaborate more effectively across clinically focused disciplines.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department now offers an array of academic programs that prepare students for impactful careers in clinical practice and research through community-based and on-campus clinical experiences. Faculty and students conduct innovative research on communication disorders across the lifespan, from autism and neurodevelopmental disorders in infants to aging-related changes to speech and swallowing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n