Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Working Groups

We stand united as we work to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within our department, the university, the community, and the professions of audiology and speech-language pathology.

In Fall 2020, we formed four working groups to address the key issues identified in our message to the CSD community.

Department Working Groups

Recruitment and Retention of a Diverse Student Body

• Faculty and Staff Members: Jessica Caron, Jenna Eldreth, Carol Miller, Annie Olmstead, Krista Wilkinson, Diane Williams, Courtney Wozetek

Inclusion of Multicultural Content in the Graduate Curriculum

• Faculty and Staff Members: Nicole Etter, Janice Light, Carol Miller, Julia Karnezos, Michael Robb

Disparities in Service Delivery

• Faculty and Staff Members: Amanda Byrd, Kitty Kubat, Elise Lindquist, Eileen Kowalski, Leslie Purcell, Chaleece Sandberg

Inclusion of Multicultural Content in the Undergraduate Curriculum

• Faculty and Staff Members: Shasta Dreese, Jenna Eldreth, Connie Kossan, Aarthi Madhavan, Navin Viswanathan, Kelly Webb, Courtney Wozetek

SMART in CSD—Students Mobilizing the Anti-Racism Transformation in Communication Sciences and Disorders

Our Ph.D. students have also formed a student group to support diversity, equity, and inclusion in CSD through establishing a repository of research by and/or for culturally and linguistically diverse individuals to help support the inclusion of these resources into CSD teaching and research.

Accomplishments

The groups have been working for positive change in a number of areas. Here are some of the highlights:

2020-2021

• We secured funding from the Equal Opportunity Planning Committee for Project BRIDGE (Bring Resources to Increase Diversity in Graduate Education), a program that will be implemented beginning Fall 2021 to support CSD undergraduates from diverse backgrounds to become successful applicants for graduate programs in audiology and speech-language pathology.

• We established the Schreiber Scholar program in partnership with the Schreiber Center for Pediatric Development in Lancaster, PA and bolstered by Penn State’s Educational Equity Matching Program to provide financial support to a CSD master’s student from an under-represented background.

• We are partnering with the Penn State Upward Bound program that works with high school students from diverse backgrounds who are interested in STEM fields to promote knowledge and interest in the professions of audiology and speech-language pathology.

• We presented to Penn State Undergraduate Admissions to promote knowledge of the Communication Sciences and Disorders major and the need to recruit diverse students.

• We have surveyed our undergraduate CSD majors to listen and learn how we can create a welcoming environment for all of our students.

• We have surveyed our graduate CSD students to gather their ideas of how to increase knowledge and experiences on cultural diversity in our clinical and academic programs.

• We have surveyed CSD faculty to learn about current inclusion of multicultural content in graduate and undergraduate courses.

• We are communicating with community partners to lay the foundations for new clinical programming and services and disseminating knowledge and resources via educational programs targeting underserved populations.