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Farewell Dr. Reed

With the end of the school year approaching, Dr. Reed, a speech language pathology professor, is planning to retire after 11 years of teaching at JMU and 45 years of teaching at the college level. Dr. Reed has made her mark on the JMU CSD department through years of teaching courses at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctorate levels; conducting research on children and adolescents with language impairments; and publishing multiple articles and books.

Originally entering college to study music, Dr. Reed’s long and wonderful career in speech language pathology began due to an unexpected turn when she was struggling with some of her music classes. Needing to find a new major, she sought advice from an older student in her sorority who happened to be a speech language pathology major. Dr. Reed met with a professor to learn more about the major, and it turned out to be Laura Lee, a front-runner in the field of speech language pathology. She switched her major and has been dedicated to speech language pathology since. During her junior year of college, she knew she eventually wanted to work at the college level as a clinical supervisor due to the unique opportunity to work with both young children and college students in the same setting.  After graduating with her master’s degree, Dr. Reed spent a few years in clinical practice before beginning to teach. Before the age of 25, she began teaching at the university level, and she continued teaching at 4 different universities across the US and in Australia before landing at JMU.  She contributes her success in the field to wonderful mentors who gave her great opportunities to expand her knowledge.


Dr. Reed says she will miss the people at JMU the most when she retires. Throughout her time at JMU, she has loved seeing the contributions made by fellow faculty members and being a part of the expansion of the undergraduate and PhD programs. While Dr. Reed will be missed at JMU, she is looking forward to the adventure that comes with the next new stage in her life. Dr. Reed’s contributions to the JMU CSD department will not be soon forgotten. 

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