STATUS REPORT

JUNE 2000

Another academic year is over, and we can look back at 1999-2000 as a good year for our member programs and for the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders.  The following items review highlights of Council activities during the past few months.

· Election Results

 We are pleased to announce that the following individuals have been elected to serve on the Executive Board of the CAPCSD:

John (Mick) Hanley, President-Elect
Malcolm (Mick) McNeil, Treasurer

In addition, Patricia (Trish) Hargrove has agreed to serve as Vice-President for Communication (continuing on the Board from previous position as Chair of the Publications Committee), John Saxman as Vice-President for Standards and Credentials (continuing on the Board from previous position as Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Standards and Credentials), Kim Oller as Vice-President for Research and Academic Development, and Jane Lieberman, Vice-President for Professional Development.  Continuing elected officers include Jerry Carney, President; Rick Talbott, Secretary; and Elaine McNiece, Past President.

· Special Thanks!

As Kim Wilcox ends his term of office on the Executive Board, we owe him thanks on behalf of the entire Council for his excellent leadership and service.  Thank you also to Linda Petrosino, Jon Miller and Dennis Nash for their work during two terms of office.  You will all be missed.

· 2000 Annual Conference

The April Conference in San Diego was another successful meeting based on both record attendance and verbal and written feedback from attendees.  Many felt that the conference addressed timely, relevant issues.  The setting was conducive to excellent networking opportunities (it was often difficult to get attendees back inside after the break-out sessions), and all seemed to enjoy the Catamaran Resort.

Many thanks are due to Gip Seaver, Jane Lieberman, Jerry Carney, and Mary Ambroe for their excellent work in planning and carrying out the myriad of detailed tasks for a great conference!

· Congratulations to Council Award Recipients

Congratulations are extended to the 2000 Council award winners who were presented at the annual banquet in San Diego.  Recipient of the Honors of the Council was Danielle Ripich. Recipients of the Award for Distinguished Contributions were Sadanand Singh and Ro Scudder and the recipient of the Award of Appreciation was Kim Wilcox.  Thanks to the Honors and Awards Committee: John Ferraro, Chair; Judy Page, and Dan Tullos for handling the nominations and selections process as well as the awards ceremony.

· Conference Correspondence Brings Praise for Council

I have received several letters and notes both prior to and since the conference that were actually intended for all Council members.

We received a greeting from Kenneth O. Johnson, who has lived in San Diego since retiring from ASHA several years ago.  We invited him to join us at the banquet on Saturday evening which prompted the following note in return:
Dear Dr. McNiece,
I am sorry to have been so tardy in responding to your gracious letter of invitation to the Council’s annual conference.
I have been having some health problems and feel I should not try to attend the banquet.  Please give my regards to all those who are old friends.  The Council has done a wonderful job for the profession and I send you all my congratulations.
Sincerely,
Kenneth O. Johnson
For those who may wish to send a greeting, Dr. Johnson’s address is 14491 Walton Heath Row, San Diego, CA 92128.  Phone number is 858-485-6632

In case you missed the note I posted on the Council list serve, I wanted to share with you the email received from Beverly Straub, the NSSLHA representative who attended our spring conference.

To all of the wonderful members of the Council of Academic Programs:
I am truly honored that I had the opportunity to meet all of you this past weekend in San Diego.  Rather than returning to Boston tired from four days of travel and meetings, I returned energized and excited.  It was invigorating to be in contact with such a dynamic group of individuals who are so dedicated to the status and future of our profession.  On behalf of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association, I extend my gratitude for your continued dedication and efforts.  Thank you for welcoming me to your Annual Conference and for listening to a student’s perspective.  Please do not hesitate to contact me if there is any way that I can be of service to you or members of your faculty.
Beverly Straub NSSLHA Region I Regional Councilor (617) 352-9554 bstraub@bu.edu

And some additional words from two of our speakers:

What a wonderful conference and what a nice setting.  I was thrilled to be among the invited speakers...  Thanks for everything.  -- Nancy Huffman

We enjoyed our time at the conference immensely.  -- Chick LaPointe

· Award of Singular Scholarship for Technology Innovation

It was indeed an honor for me to present the FIRST Singular Publishing Group Scholarship. The Scholarship was designed for students enrolled in doctoral study in communication sciences and disorders to encourage projects that develop technological innovations.  The $5,000 award was presented to Terre Blankenship of Wichita State University.  Ms. Blankenship was introduced by her advisor, Ro Scudder.  Her project will be to investigate the use of an on-line computer coding system to capture parent-child interactions in five families.  These families have twins: one child without and one with Down’s Syndrome.  The scholarship will allow Terre and her advisor to study with the computer programmer to develop the program to be versatile enough to handle different codes and to write directions for easy, wide-spread use of the system.

Dr. Sadanand Singh joined me for the presentation of the award.  Also in attendance were top executives from Singular Thomson Publishing of San Diego and New York.

I received the following note from Terre Blankenship following the conference:

I just wanted to say a big Thank-You for the nice recognition at the conference It meant so much to me to be a part of everything.  It was wonderful to meet you and to be in the presence of so many wonderful people.  Thank-you to you and to the Council for a very special event that I will always remember.
Sincerely,
Terre Blankenship

· Article and By-Law Changes

I am pleased to report that the proposed revisions in the Articles of Incorporation and By-Law were approved by written ballot (106 - For, 1 - Against, 6 - Abstain). CAPCSD Council, Morgan Downey, will file the necessary papers for us, and updated versions are being prepared for the Directory and Web Site.  Thank you for your help with these changes.

· Resolution Ballot Outcome

All three resolutions distributed to the membership were passed by a fairly sizable majority vote.  The specific resolutions and vote tallies are provided below, with tallies indicating For, Against, and Abstain.  We thank those individuals who took the time to provide comments or to raise questions on the ballot; we will be considering your input and the resolutions at the July Board Meeting.

2000-1  Resolved:  That the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders supports the development of innovative and/or alternative educational/ instructional programs, including a variety of models of distance learning  (93 - For, 19 - Against, 7 - Abstain).

2000-2  Resolved:  That the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders ask the Clinical Certification Board of ASHA to join us in petitioning the Educational Testing Service to disseminate student performance data by content area.  The information may be provided either by individual student report or by program report (114 - For, 1 - Against, 3 - Abstain).

2000-3   Resolved:  That the CAPCSD supports and endorses the efforts of program directors from existing and developing programs to work together toward the common goal of developing quality audiology education programs; and further
Resolved:  That the CAPCSD encourages the collaboration of program directors to meet, share information, experiences and strategies related to the development of clinical doctoral programs; and further
 
Resolved:   That the CAPCSD recommends that these meetings should be scheduled, where possible, to coincide with existing professional meetings (e.g. ASHA, AAA, and CAPCSD) and encourages programs to participate in these meetings; and further
Resolved: That efforts should be made to make the resultant discussions and materials available to the widest possible audience; and further
Resolved:  That CAPCSD include such activities in its future programs (95 - For, 14 - Against, 10 - Abstain).

· Council Membership Continues to Grow

The Council now has 244 member programs. We are pleased to announce the following new member programs since the March Status Report:

California - California State University-Long Beach (James A. Till, Ph.D.)
Florida - Florida International University (Lemmietta McNeilly, Ph.D.)
Louisiana - Grambling State University (Betty Jackson, M.A.)
Pennsylvania - LaSalle University (Barbara Amster, Ph.D.)

· OSEP Requests Feedback on Part D of IDEA

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education (OSEP) is seeking feedback on which federally funded special education programs and services are effective and which need more attention. As a part of OSEP’s comprehensive planning process, a Special Education Consumer Survey is being conducted.  The survey specifically addresses programs authorized under Part D of IDEA, which provides funding for national projects focused on research, family involvement, evaluation and improvement of current programs, information dissemination and technical assistance, overall system-wide change, and training for educators.  Funding through Part D is important to many of our programs and I would encourage you to respond to the survey.  Fill out the survey directly on the web site at www.OSEPplanning.org or email a request for a survey to OSEPplanning@westat.com.

· Personal Note

It has been a pleasure to serve as President of the Council this year.  Each interaction has been rewarding from a personal and professional point of view, and I remain convinced that Council representatives constitute a group of forward- thinking individuals who collectively can develop creative solutions to the challenges we face in academe.  I also believe that as the Council continues to grow, our visibility and voice become even stronger. I look forward to working with Jerry Carney and the Board in continuing to provide leadership and advocacy for important academic issued.  Thank you for your support and help!

Elaine M. McNiece
CAPCSD President
1999-2000