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The field of audiology, particularly in the area of education, is currently focused on the future and the advances that will help patients with hearing impairment well into the 21st century.
But sometimes, it pays to take a look at the past and understand the roots and origins of audiological education. Many of them can be found at Western Michigan University (WMU) in Kalamazoo, MI.
The WMU Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology's rich history begins with its founding by Dr. Charles Van Riper in 1936. Dr. Van Riper, long recognized as one of the "founding fathers" of speech pathology, also became the school's first chair of the speech pathology program. He recommended development of an audiology program before stepping down as chair to devote himself to full-time teaching and clinical work in 1966, when Dr. Harold Bate joined the faculty with a charge to develop a master's program in audiology. The audiology program was established by 1970, and Dr. Van Riper retired as Distinguished University Professor in 1976.
The department, as a whole, was one of the first six in the nation to receive accreditation. It is still going strong today and will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2011.
In the past decade, the audiology program has made numerous advances, and it graduated its first cohort of doctoral students in 2007. Perhaps even more remarkable was the transformation of the campus clinic during that same time frame.
"The department and our school's clinic were originally housed on what's known as East Campus," explains Ann Tyler, PhD, CCC-SLP, professor and current department chair. "Then in 2005, we moved into the new College of Health and Human Services building."
Dr. Tyler describes the new building as well-equipped and very modern-so advanced, in fact, that a national organization recognized the new home of the WMU audiology program as the most "green" educational building on any college campus in America. "It means a lot to our faculty and students to be in a building that is comfortable, functional and environmentally friendly," says Dr. Lawson.
The campus clinic is located across the street from the College of Health and Human Services. In the clinic, faculty members and students work hand-in-hand to treat community members of all ages for issues ranging from hearing loss diagnosis to hearing aid fitting and documentation of hearing status for employment purposes.
Community
The town of Kalamazoo, like most in the state of Michigan, is an outdoorsman's dream. Whereas much of the state is situated on flat terrain, the western part of the state boasts rolling hills, along with proximity to Lake Michigan and its numerous recreational activities.
For the cultural enthusiast, Kalamazoo combines small-town charm with big-city opportunities in the areas of arts and music. The just-concluded annual Gilmore Keyboard Festival is one of the most popular of its kind in the U.S., while WMU itself has the unique distinction of having all of the school's fine arts program offerings accredited by the highest ranking national body.
The town has become known in recent years for the Kalamazoo Promise-a pledge by anonymous local donors to cover up to 100 percent of tuition costs at any of Michigan's state colleges for graduates of either of the town's two public high schools. The benefits to the students are obvious, but Kalamazoo itself has experienced growth as a result. Since the 2005 unveiling of the Promise, enrollment in its public school systems is up 16 percent, test scores have improved and a higher proportion of the town's high school graduates are going on to college.
What's more, the town of Kalamazoo has come to be viewed as a catalyst for other communities offering similar "Promise" programs. As such, the town will host PromiseNet 2010. PromiseNet is described as "a network of communities investing in education and economic development through place-based scholarship programs." The PromiseNet 2010 Conference, "Investing in Youth for Community Transformation" is designed to bring together individuals planning and pursuing these strategies in their own communities for learning, reflection and interaction.
The "unofficial" kickoff of the conference was June 7, 2010, when Kalamazoo Central High School welcomed President Barack Obama as its official commencement speaker. On that day, Mr. Obama became the first standing president to give a high school commencement address.
The Program
"This June, we graduated our fourth class from the AuD program," states Dr. Gary Lawson, coordinator of the audiology program at WMU. "Since our first AuD class graduated in 2007, our students have produced 10 published articles, as well as a couple of proceedings articles." In the same time periods, WMU's aspiring audiologists have presented more than 20 professional papers, cultivating a rather impressive research résumé for such a young AuD program.
"We've had students win the James Jerger Award for Excellence in Student Research from the American Academy of Audiology," adds Dr. Tyler. Additionally, three WMU students have been recognized by the National Hearing Conservation Association with the Research Travel Award.
Both Dr. Lawson and Dr. Tyler credit their outstanding faculty for helping the program compile such an impressive list of accolades in such a short time. Faculty members dedicated to audiology include:
- Bharti Katbamna, PhD, CCC-A, who specializes in diagnostics and teaches most diagnostic courses. "Dr. Katbamna is an excellent researcher," says Dr. Lawson. "She was recently recognized by her alma mater, the University of Cincinnati, with its Distinguished Alumnus award in Communication Sciences and Disorders."
- Greg Flamme, PhD, CCC-A, whose specialty is prevention of hearing loss. Dr. Flamme is directing an audiometric reliability study sponsored by CDC/NIOSH. He also teaches courses related to psychoacoustics, instrumentation, hearing loss prevention, the use of hearing aids, and audiological practice management.
- Teresa Crumpton, AuD, CCC-A, who specializes in pediatrics. Among her many duties at the university is the coordination of the campus audiology clinic.
- Mary Peterson, AuD, CCC-A, who teaches courses in rehabilitation and working with cochlear implants. Dr. Peterson primarily assesses and treats the adult population in the clinic.
- Gary Lawson, PhD, CCC-A, who coordinates the AuD program. Dr. Lawson teaches introductory audiology courses to undergraduates, as well as anatomy and auditory disorders courses to graduate students.
Students spend most of their first year in the program in on-campus practicum experiences before heading out on rotation for their second and third years. These rotations run the gamut of professional experiences-students work with pediatric and adult patients in settings ranging from electrophysiology to rehabilitation and everything in between. They also get to experience working with patients who have received cochlear implants. "It's a very comprehensive program," summarizes Dr. Lawson.
While the externship is promoted and considered as a fourth-year experience at WMU, in reality it begins in June of the student's third year and lasts a full calendar year. Students' externship experiences can take them to far-reaching areas of the country, or as close as some of the finest practicum sites in the state of Michigan.
Currently, 24 students are enrolled in WMU's program, with an average class size of six to eight students. The typical graduating student accumulates 120 credit hours.
Another area where WMU is ahead of the curve is in student tuition. In 2009-10, WMU charged graduate students approximately $500 per credit hour-the lowest rate of any state school in Michigan. At that rate, Dr. Lawson says that over the life of a graduate school career, a student could save in excess of $10,000 by choosing to stay in-state and attend Western Michigan.
Typically, eight to 10 students can take advantage of a graduate assistantship at any one time, according to Dr. Lawson.
While the school certainly has come a long way since the days of Dr. Van Riper, his impact-and imprint-can be felt every day on campus. That's because the school chose to name its aforementioned new campus clinic, complete with state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, the Charles Van Riper Language, Speech and Hearing Clinic in his honor. In addition to the outstanding clinic facilities, the department boasts a sound field research lab, a hearing loss prevention lab and a "wet" lab used for basic research with amphibians. "We have six to seven labs dedicated solely to teaching and research," says Dr. Lawson.
"Our faculty work hard to secure funding through grants for all of the research that takes place in our labs," adds Dr. Tyler.
From its long-ago founding father to modern recognition for having the "greenest" on-campus building-the past, present and future of audiology are alive and well at Western Michigan University.
Rob Senior is a managing editor at ADVANCE.
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