Back in 1999, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation stood on the brink of an adventure: a first-ever capital campaign to raise $2 million to support doctoral education and advanced research in the field of communication sciences and disorders. The shortage of doctoral-level professionals had reached a critical point, and the Foundation–whose mission is to support the advancement of knowledge and improvement of practice–was uniquely equipped to address this problem.
The Foundation’s Dreams and Possibilities Campaign was the answer. With the funds raised, the Foundation planned to establish a scholarship program to support strong doctoral candidates who will pursue a teacher-investigator career in the academic environment at the university or college level; and a research grant program to support innovative investigations by individuals who are committed to teacher-investigator careers in the university or college academic environment or in external research institutes or laboratories.
No one expected that the New Century Scholars Program would be in place by 2003 and launching its first competitions for six $10,000 doctoral scholarships and one $10,000 advanced research grant. “This is one of the most important things we have done in our professions in a long time,” says Julia Davis, a Foundation trustee and vice president of the Program and Awards Committee. “I feel strongly that unless we take steps to develop research professionals and expand knowledge in the field, we are going to find ourselves obsolete.”
Response to the program was overwhelming. The doctoral scholarship program received 111 applications from candidates representing 53 of the 60 communication disorders and sciences programs in the United States. The research grant program received 20 proposals from 16 universities and clinical centers.
“I was amazed at the number of applicants, especially the number who had very broad multidisciplinary plans of study,” says Noel Matkin, PhD, former president of the Board of Trustees, and a reviewer for the New Century Scholars Program. “This bodes very well for the future of our professions.”
“It became clear how necessary this program is to some really outstanding young people preparing for this field,” agrees Davis. “We had more excellent proposals than we could possibly fund. We had applicants from most of the programs in the country, across the field of speech, language, and hearing science. The quality of these people is amazing, and they are just scratching it out to get through graduate school.”
The financial need of doctoral students was something that became obvious to Nancy Swigert, Foundation president, as the competition progressed. “We had applicants who were just beginning their doctoral studies, were in the middle, or who were just finishing,” she recalls. “This says that students need funding and our support in every phase of their careers.”
Even more impressive than the number of applicants, say those involved in the review process, was the quality of the candidates. “I made my judgments primarily on the quality of their research ideas and interests, because I believe that is the area in which we are drastically in need,” says Jan Costello Ingham, professor in the Department of Speech and Hearing Science at the University of California-Santa Barbara, and an NCS reviewer. “I rated about 20 proposals, and I felt that at least 50% were very good and five or six were as good as anything I’d ever seen–and none of those from this subgroup were selected! That means there is a very good cadre of people out there.”
Ingham also found it heartening to see so many students interested in research. “It is getting more and more difficult for speech-language pathology and audiology to attract the type of person who is interested in the combination of science and clinical application because there are other professions competing for those same types of students,” she explains. “But it is very encouraging that this generation of students has a lot of clinical interest from a research standpoint. This kind of research is very hard research to do, as most people will appreciate.”
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) also recognized the timely need for the program and stepped forward with an additional contribution that enabled the Foundation to increase the number of doctoral scholarships to a total of six offered in 2003. “That got us off to a wonderful start and was a public statement of ASHA’s support and dedication to this new program,” acknowledges Davis.
The initial success of the New Century Scholars Program, supported by a campaign entitled Dreams and Possibilities, has inspired everyone involved to dream a little about the future of communication sciences and disorders. “I’d like to see this program become the first and best place our students come for funding,” states Swigert.
“Twenty years from now, I’d like to see us awarding larger scholarships, supporting scholars in travel, and following their career advancement,” says Davis. “It won’t surprise me if many of these recipients emerge as true leaders in the field.”
“I envision future awards going to teams of researchers, each bringing their own expertise to studies that have the potential to be cutting edge,” says Ingham. “I believe that the research of the future is going to become more and more interdisciplinary. If students don’t have good interdisciplinary experiences in their training, it will be difficult for them to forge those collaborations in their careers.”
“My dream is that this program will continue to grow and that we can increase the number of extremely well-qualified applicants funded,” says Matkin. “I really see this as having a major impact in terms of the future health of our professions. This program will produce a whole cadre of research-based professionals who will strengthen and broaden the impact of our contributions to people living with speech, language, and hearing disorders. Their influence will mean that we have much stronger, qualified clinicians throughout this nation.”
The First New Century Scholars
Doctoral Scholarships: Shannon Austermann, San Diego State University and University of California-San Diego; Cathy Binger, Pennsylvania State University; Gayle DeDe, Boston University; Melanie Gregan, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Esther S. Kim, University of Arizona; Nathan V. Welham, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Research Grant: Swathi Kiran, University of Texas at Austin. For more information about these and other 2004 awardees, visit Foundation’s Recipients section.