JMU CSD Undergraduate Advising

As CSD students, we recognize that a person’s ability to communicate is a huge factor in one’s identity and quality of life. For those that are unable to use their own voice to speak, various Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices can be groundbreaking for an individual to express their wants, needs, thoughts, and feelings. With changes in technology and advancing knowledge in Speech Science, the possibilities for AAC devices are continually growing.   As useful and appreciated as these devices are, they often use the same robotic, computerized voice that may not fit the client’s identity. A company called VocaliD is working to change that. Using principals from Acoustics and Speech Science, VocaliD uses a recording from a client’s production of a vowel and blends it to the voice of a donor to create a unique voice to be used on an AAC device. President and Founder of the company, Rupal Patel, became inspired to create VocaliD after watching a young girl and an...

Don't have any plans for the summer? Not sure if you want to go to graduate school after you graduate? New job opportunities have been posted under the "Job Opportunity" tab on the blog. We will continue to update the tab as the CSD department receives notification of new opportunities.

          Being involved in campus clubs and organizations is a great way for students to meet people with similar interests and gain leadership and volunteer experience. JMU currently has over 300 student organizations. Many of the clubs offered provide opportunities related to the fields of Speech Pathology and Audiology, including the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSHLA). NSSHLA is a pre-professional organization for any student interested in the study of normal and disordered communication. With over 300 chapters across the country, involvement in NSSLHA can provide networking opportunities and allow students to be informed about updates within the field. Current president of JMUs chapter of NSSHLA is senior CSD major, Maddy Eskew. Maddy became involved with NSSHLA during her sophomore year and saw it as a great opportunity to gain personal interactions with other CSD students and professors. Along with many possibilities to...

Office Hours for Spring 2016 are now posted! Hours for faculty advisors on each grade level page  Graduate Advisor hours on the "Student Advisor" tab  These will begin on Wednesday, January 27.  All of the CSD faculty are posted under the "Office Hours" tab  Hope your semester is off to a great start! 

Welcome to Spring Semester! I hope everyone had a great break. Faculty are updating their blog pages as I write this, so if office hours are not posted now, check back in a day or two.

Cecilia Breazile and Mary Blake Hinshaw are the undergraduate student advisors! They are first year graduate students in the SLP program, and they both attended JMU for their undergraduate degrees in Communication Sciences and Disorders. In addition to their CSD majors, Cecilia minored in Medical Spanish, and Mary Blake minored in EXED and Family Studies. They would love to help answer any questions about the major, scheduling classes, graduate applications, their respective minors, and any other related topic. Their office hours will be in HHS 1142 (directly across from Dr. DePaolis' office). The times will be posted later this week. Please feel free to email them if you have any questions, concerns, or if you would like to schedule an appointment at a time different from the ones listed above.  Cecilia Breazile--  breazicr@dukes.jmu.edu Mary Blake Hinshaw--  hinshamb@dukes.jmu.edu

This year ASHA’s annual convention in Denver held over 14,000 SLPs and audiologists, as well as many JMU CSD faculty and a few graduate students. One graduate student who had the honor of attending the conference this year, Lauren Maher, is a first year speech-language pathology Masters student and Double Duke. Lauren flew to Denver to hear presentations, meet other professionals in the field, and present her research, Quality of Life Indices in Brain Injury: A Pilot Investigation. She first got involved in research during her time in the JMU Honors Program, which requires all students to complete a thesis project. For her thesis, she worked with Dr. O’Donoghue on creating an analog scale for people who have sustained a brain injury so that they could self-report their quality of life. Her research has brought her to two conferences, got her a paid ticket and hotel room in Denver for ASHA, and most importantly provided her with knowledge and experiences that will aid her in her futu...