Candidate for Vice President for Academic Affairs in Audiology
Barbara Katherine Cone, PhD, CCC-A
ASHA Leader Interview | Video Interview | Video Transcript | All Candidates
Barbara K. Cone, PhD, CCC-A, is Professor of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Dr. Cone's research and clinical endeavors during the past 3 decades have focused on the assessment of infant hearing (and its development) using electrophysiologic measures. Dr. Cone has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications and numerous book chapters. Her research has received federal and private foundation support for over 30 years.
She is an ASHA Fellow and has served ASHA in several capacities, including associate editorships for the American Journal of Audiology and Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, as a member of the SIG 6 Steering Committee, and on several ASHA Convention Program Committees. Dr. Cone and her students have made consistent contributions to ASHA Convention programs in technical sessions, poster sessions, Short Courses, and seminars.
Dr. Cone completed her bachelor's and master's degrees in speech and hearing sciences at the University of California Santa Barbara and her PhD in communication disorders at the University of Texas at Dallas. She has held research, teaching, and clinical appointments at Arizona State University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, The Los Angeles County Hospital and University of Southern California School of Medicine, and at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
The ASHA Leader asked the candidates:
Given the position for which you are running, if you could change one thing about ASHA, what would it be?
ASHA should emphasize the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) areas as preparation for careers in audiology and speech-language pathology. If we do not raise our standards in these areas, we risk becoming dependent upon or dominated by those fields for which science and math preparation is more rigorous. Lagging behind in these areas threatens professional and academic autonomy. To put it more positively, academic programs that have high standards for STEM preparation will be producing the clinical innovators and researchers for the 21st century. By emphasizing STEM preparation for careers in audiology and speech-language pathology ASHA can ensure the professions’ intellectual growth and advance the research endeavor with translation into clinical innovation.
Why are you running for a position on the ASHA Board?
What would be your top priority be if elected to your respective position?