November 30, 2014

Audiology, Speech Pathology Faculty, Student Receive Statewide Awards

speech-audiology awards

Sarah Kennett, Au.D., and Clifford Franklin, Ph.D., were recognized by the Arkansas Speech Language Hearing Association, as was faculty member Samuel Atcherson, Ph.D., (not pictured)who was unable to attend the event.

Nov. 30, 2014 | Two faculty members and a graduate student in the college’s Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology were recognized recently with awards and a scholarship handed out by the Arkansas Speech Language Hearing Association.

During its October awards ceremony, the organization presented awards to:

  • Clifford A. Franklin, Ph.D., associate professor — Research Award
  • Samuel Atcherson, Ph.D., associate professor — Audiology Award

Audiology doctoral student Sarah Kennett, Au.D., received a scholarship from the group.

The research and audiology awards were peer nominated. For research, nominations were for “individuals who have made significant contributions to the research literature related to the professions of speech pathology or audiology.” The audiology award “recognizes distinguished service by an audiologist.”

Said one nomination form for Atcherson: “Dr. Atcherson is the epitome of “Audiology.”  He not only works tirelessly for his profession and clients, he lives it.  As the recipient of bilateral cochlear implants, he is able to empathize with and relate to his clients on a personal level.  He knows firsthand what it means to be a deaf, hard of hearing, hearing impaired individual in today’s community.  For these reasons, Dr. Atcherson should be recognized as the recipient of ArkSHA’s Audiology Award.”

A nomination of Franklin cited “his contributions to the literature in two areas: 1) acceptance of background noise and 2) audiometric threshold comparisons among pure, pulsed, and warble tones. Since he became a faculty member in 2004 (UALR/UAMS and Missouri State University), he has pursued these two topics in order to help future hearing aid patients and improve our empirical understanding of our audiometric signal choices and guidelines. Dr. Franklin is a well-liked, well-respected audiology faculty member who enjoys research collaborations with other faculty members and enjoys sharing his love for research and the profession with his students.”

The Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology is hosted jointly by UAMS and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.