Communication Sciences and Disorders Strategic Plan

Strategic Planning Document

University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
Communication Sciences and Disorders

Approved by department August 2022

Vision Statement

The Communication Sciences and Disorders Department will be recognized by potential students, employers, and consumers as an exceptional training program of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists in the state of Wisconsin and as a community service provider in the area of speech and language, and audiology.

Mission Statements

The mission of the Master of Science graduate program in speech-language pathology in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point is to provide a foundation of professional preparation in speech-language pathology. Students will engage in critical thinking by integrating the evidence base into clinical practice. Students will develop the necessary knowledge and skills to competently assess and treat individuals with communication, cognition, and/or swallowing disorders from diverse backgrounds in a variety of community and work settings. The program is designed to promote a healthy and thriving community by serving and advocating for the people of Central Wisconsin.

The mission of the undergraduate program in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point is to provide students a liberal arts education that prepares them to be global citizens. Students will develop foundational knowledge and clinical skills in communication sciences and disorders. Upon completion of this pre-professional program, students will be eligible to apply to a graduate program.

ENVISIONED FUTURE

In 2032, the program will have maintained consistent levels of enrollment despite declining numbers of high school graduates. Students in the programs will have benefitted from a variety of on-campus and off-campus clinical experiences. The faculty will have been innovative in the areas of teaching, scholarship, and service.

Focus Area 1: Staffing 

Issue Statement: Sufficient and stable staffing is needed in order to ensure adequate academic and clinical training and address the national shortage of speech-language pathologists and audiologists. 

Baseline Data: We have had to conduct at least one, and often two, faculty/staff searches per year due to retirements and/or resignations. We are sometimes unable to fill a position on the first search.

Outcomes: We will be able to recruit and retain all necessary faculty/staff. 

Indicator of Success: Stability in staffing: Faculty/staff searches will be successful, and faculty/staff will not resign or choose to retire earlier than planned due to workload/work conditions or low salaries. 

Strategies to Achieving Focus Area: 

• Provide mentoring for new hires  
  • New employee handbook and formal mentoring, perhaps by various faculty/staff members each taking a topic which will also provide a way for new faculty/staff to get to know everyone in the department. Some examples of possible information to include:  
    • One clinic syllabus 
    • Specialized handbook to include clinic paperwork/forms 
    • Clinical process and dates 
    • How to write a syllabus, develop a PPT, write learning outcomes Backward design 
    • Conflict resolution—how to have difficult conversations with students, overview of courses, learning outcomes, prerequisites 
  • Connect new faculty regularly with CITL/group of new faculty across campus 
  • Onboarding Canvas class 
• Explore new recruiting techniques 
  • “Grow your own” with some alum in the area?
  • Post in subject relevant ASHA communities, explore social media avenues 
  • A video highlighting UWSP’s and SP’s strengths/opportunities? We need to consider both how we can “grow our own” and what UWSP has to offer to candidates who may not be familiar with or have existing connections to us. 
• Network 
  • Advertise for faculty with Ph.D. students in the surrounding area 

Focus Area 2: Recruitment and retention of high-quality students into the major as an undergraduate and recruit high quality students into our graduate programs. 

Issue Statement: As we look to grow the number of undergraduates in our major, we need to develop new recruitment techniques. We also need to continue developing our plan to retain declared CSD students in the major and on our campus. As students begin applying to graduate programs, we need to find recruitment tools to have more of our top-performing students accept an invitation to one of our programs.

Baseline Data:  There are fewer students entering college from high school compared to previous years. We have not actively recruited high school students to our major in the past.

Outcome Statement: We will increase our recruitment efforts to increase enrollment in the undergraduate and graduate programs and will increase offerings to improve retention of CSD students. 

Indicator of success:  One indicator of success will be having an average class size of 35 new undergraduate students enroll each year.  We will also see more of our top-performing undergraduate students accept an invitation to attend one of our graduate programs. We will fulfill our graduate rosters with students from the top tier ratings during the admission process.

Strategies to achieve focus area:  

Recruitment:  

• We will have current students involved in View Point days, on-campus visits, Graduate School Preview Day, and personalized tours. 
• The faculty will work together to maintain our student-friendly and welcoming learning environment as well as maintain our professional clinical facilities. 
  Administrators will work to maintain all Graduate Assistantships in the department.
• Use student organization social media to promote the major and opportunities within for student engagement and participation.
• Working to connect with health career classes or health care related clubs at high schools to discuss the profession.
• Connect with alumni and offer materials or information where they can promote UWSP at their workplace
• Alumni spotlight on social media that could be then tagged back to employer. Tracking ‘viewed’ data to determine success rate of the campaign.
• Promoting interprofessional activities on campus as well as in the community (DPT, AT, Special Olympics, Marshfield Health Scholars). 

Retention:

• The faculty will support the student organization’s activities that engage and support undergraduate students. This could include more staff presence at meetings and/or activities, advertising support, help with panels/discussions and community outreach. Goal is 75% of majors should be in a student org related to their area of interest in year 1-2, 85% 3+ years. 
  Provide a physical office space for office hours and have consistent tutoring for undergraduates. The tutors would provide weekly updates on who attended and for what class.
• Creation of the CSD 109 for spring of the freshman year to provide hands on activities, more work with other CSD staff and graduate students. Tracking data after inaugural class to set baseline for retention.
• Promote the ongoing support for students during the graduate school application process.

Focus Area 3: Administrative positions need to be manageable.

Issue Statement: The administrative duties in CSD are challenging to manage with a 12-credit teaching load.

Baseline Data: We have had some faculty and academic staff in administrative positions who have resigned due to the stress of their duties.

Outcome Statement: Faculty and academic staff in administrative roles are supported and receive sufficient release time to successfully accomplish their duties.

Indicator of Success: Faculty and academic staff will volunteer for administrative roles.

Strategies to Achieve Focus Area: 

• Provide leadership training and mentoring
• Establish plans for future transitions
• Investigate current policies and procedures related to administrative roles
• Update administrative role job descriptions

Statement on Anti-Racism and Equity

August 2020 The faculty and staff in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point are committed to calling out and eliminating systemic racism in our department, university, community, and other networks. Our department and the greater UWSP community condemns racism, bigotry, and hatred. Events of this summer have brought to light the ongoing racism in the United States and we are prompted to examine our own implicit biases, personally and within the professions of speech-language pathology, audiology, education, and medicine. We are in agreement with the UWSP Diversity and Inclusion Statement, written by a working group of UWSP employees and endorsed by the 2019-2020 Diversity Council and Common Council. It states: “The students, faculty, and staff of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) recognize the lived experiences, identities, and contributions of past students, faculty, staff, and community members. In recognition of this history, we commit ourselves to the ongoing work of building and championing an inclusive UWSP. We strive to dismantle bias and hate by empowering voices of the marginalized and building relationships of trust across differences. Together we aim to develop and support a community where all can safely maintain integral, personal identities, be equitable participants, and learn from one another.

Each of us has a responsibility and role in actively educating ourselves while holding one another accountable. In so doing, we cultivate a reflective, engaged culture of learning and living which supports, embraces, and celebrates diversity, inclusivity, and accessibility. We are a university where all are encouraged to challenge and debate complex issues in order to sustain a campus culture that nurtures reflection, learning, holistic development, community engagement, and global citizenship. Our goal is equitable educational opportunities. As such, UWSP encourages inclusive pedagogy and the integration of differing perspectives across disciplines. Diverse needs and perspectives must be accounted for when making institutional decisions, and in turn, immediate action must be taken to address hate, bias, and harassment.None of this will be accomplished immediately. This process demands mindful reflection, continual commitment, and resources from the University of Wisconsin System, UWSP leaders, and each of us personally. We remain committed to the learning, development, safety, and well-being of all while working toward an inclusive community. Together, we build a better UWSP.”

The CSD faculty and staff are committed to inclusive education and to intentionally embedding content into classroom and clinical experiences that identifies systemic racism and bias within our professions, such as racial disparities in healthcare, over-referral of minority children and ESL children for special education, and the school-to-prison pipeline. Realizing that dismantling systems that reward privilege and punish minorities is challenging work, we will approach it with respect, commitment, and humility. We seek not to only give People of Color a seat at the table, but to amplify the marginalized voices of those in our immediate environment, community, and wider circles. In doing this work, even with the best intentions, we will surely make mistakes. Therefore, we endeavor to give grace to each other, learn from our missteps, and move forward in our growth and learning. As we seek justice, inclusion, and equity, we do so not only for People of Color, but for all those who are in the minority because of gender, sexuality, nationality, disability, religion, neurodiversity, and others.

It is not enough just to pledge to do these things. They must be followed with actionable steps. As an academic department, here is what we have done in the past two years:

• We were the first academic department to complete the Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning’s (CITL) “Toward a More Inclusive Campus” four-part training. The modules were:
  • Building Awareness/The Value of Diversity
  • Blindspots and their Consequences
  • Inclusive Interactions
  • Inclusive Pedagogy
• We read and discussed the book, Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria (and Other Conversations about Race) by Beverly Daniel Tatum, as part of an all-college read with the College of Professional Studies
• Graduate students, faculty, and staff completed a specially-designed workshop created by Lindsay Bernhagen, Director of the CITL. This workshop focused on how to respond to and diffuse racially or sexually charged comments in clinical settings.
• Many faculty and staff are on committees that focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion at the college, university, and state level.
• Specific content that addressed systemic racism was embedded into graduate coursework during summer semester 2020.
• The GRE requirement was waived for students applying to the master’s program in SLP for the 2020-2021 graduate admissions cycle.
• We participated in a 2-part webinar “Addressing Racism in CSD Education” facilitated by the national Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences and Disorders organization.

Here is what we pledge to do as we move forward:

• Remove the GRE as a requirement for admission into the graduate program, due to its known racial bias.
• Form a committee of faculty, staff, students, and alumni to lead, monitor, and evaluate our department’s progress.
• Create a form for students, alumni, clients, and community members to provide feedback and suggestions related to anti-racism initiatives.
• Create a page on our website to share our progress and provide resources to students, alumni, clients, and the community.

We know that this is just a start. The goal of the College of Professional Studies is to be “proactive, resourceful, connected, and caring” and we endeavor to model those attributes as we collectively seek to confront systemic racism, amplify marginalized people, and eradicate bigotry and hatred within our university, professions, and communities.