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I found ASHA President Noma Anderson's article "Looking for a Career to Change the Future? Consider Higher Education" very inspiring. This semester, I have had the opportunity to teach an undergraduate course at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. It has been exciting to work with a tremendous staff, faculty, and a group of students who are second to none. Indeed, the pride achieved in watching students grow into clinicians can only be matched by watching our patients grow into more successful communicators.
Given the shortage of faculty in higher education programs, it appears that we are on the verge of a possible paradigm shift in the way teaching student clinicians may be conducted in the future. I would like to propose that we explore the possibility of including more master's-level expert clinicians in student training programs. I have no doubt that many master's-level clinicians would feel the same energy toward teaching that PhD colleagues have expressed in this article. The reality is many clinicians choose not to pursue a PhD because they enjoy clinical work and that interest outweighs their interests in research. A large number of those same clinicians would be eager to convey their knowledge to students in the classroom as well as in the clinic.
ASHA has created a number of specialty recognition programs to help identify expert clinicians. Perhaps the possibility of teaching students can be one incentive offered by specialty recognition status. The time has come to address faculty shortages in more creative ways.
Craig Coleman
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
coleman-craig@msn.com
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