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When I first came to ASHA in 1993, I was privileged to work on the then-new clinical practice journals. I asked inaugural editors Marilyn Newhoff (AJSLP) and Robert G. Turner (AJA) to tell me about the launch.
Marilyn Newhoff
Starting a new journal had a lot of fun challenges-Bob Turner and I were given complete rein. We enjoyed collaborating on formats and features. AJSLP included some new areas like supervision, augmentative communication, and computer technology, in addition to the more traditional arenas. I brought on major hitters as the original associate editors and they deserve a lot of credit for the development of AJSLP. Kevin Kearns and I decided on the green and blue because we thought that these colors represented scholarship and intellectual pursuit. And I wanted art on the cover with an underlying theme of communication. The first volume had photos of bronze sculpture; the next year the paintings communicated in an abstract form. We had a year to prepare and came out with our first edition in the fall of 1991. We ended my editorship with the Clinical Aphasiology Conference supplement, which brought neurogenic communication disorders to one of the largest ASHA readerships ever. AJSLP was a wonderful success story and it seemed to meet the need of our readership. I hope that I have found a variety of ways to contribute to our discipline, but I take tremendous pride in the success of AJSLP.
Robert G. Turner
What really appealed to me is that it was a brand new journal and I would have a chance to create something out of nothing. I looked at professional magazines outside of audiology, and I thought, what made them interesting? Following PC Magazine, I created features for AJA. We were able to publish material of interest to audiologists that didn't fit the format of more traditional journals, and we had feature editors to go out and find material. I liked being involved in the layout. I decided the cover picture should be a window into the journal-taking a figure from an article, creating a design from it, and then putting it on the cover. [Note: A recent AJA cover won artist Joyce Mulcahy of ASHA's Graphics division an award from the Society of National Association Publications.] The red, white, and blue color scheme was mine too; I like flag colors, and I wanted a journal that would stand out on the shelf. I loved doing it. Marilyn and I worked together very well, and the publications were real brother-sister journals.
-Ellen Caswell
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