Board of Directors Meeting Report: March 27, 2011
The Board of Directors (BOD) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) met on the afternoon of March 27, 2011, at the ASHA National Office. Following are highlights of the Board's discussions:
President's Welcome
President Rao thanked Nancy Alarcon, Chair of the Speech-Language Pathology Advisory Council; George Purvis, Chair of the Audiology Advisory Council; Vic Gladstone, Chief Staff Officer for Audiology; and Lemmie McNeilly, Chief Staff Officer for Speech-Language Pathology, on their excellent work in preparing and conducting the advisory council meetings.
Advisory Council Meetings
The BOD expressed appreciation for the level of engagement, open flow of communication, high level of involvement, and enthusiasm of the members of both advisory councils. The Board agreed that the feedback provided by the councils will be very helpful as decisions are made at future Board meetings. Advisory council members will be provided with additional information via the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Advisory Councils' collaboration sites and will continue to provide advisory input to the BOD throughout the year.
Discussion of Evidence-Based Systematic Review Topics
Vice President for Science and Research Karen Kirk led the BOD in a discussion about topics that ASHA's National Center for Evidence-Based Practice in Communication Disorders (N-CEP) is considering for evidence-based systematic reviews in 2011. The Board decided that additional discussion was needed regarding these topics before proceeding with approval of the systematic reviews. It was decided that the discussion would be continued online through the BOD collaboration site.
Associates Program Update
Chief Staff Officer for Communications Marty Rome provided a brief update regarding the progress toward creating the new Associates affiliation category for communication sciences and disorders support personnel. He pointed out that for most of the next 5 months, ASHA will be primarily gathering information from members regarding likely prospects for joining ASHA as Associates. The earliest that someone may join as an Associate is September of 2011.
Special Interest Group Program Update
Chief Staff Officer for Speech-Language Pathology Lemmie McNeilly provided a brief update regarding the progress toward transition of ASHA's Special Interest Divisions to the new Special Interest Groups (SIGs). Communication to SIG affiliates is taking place through a variety of forums and will continue throughout 2011, the transitional year for all of the changes that will be fully in place by the beginning of 2012.