Welcome to the Communication Sciences and Disorders Department
The University of Maine offers the only undergraduate and graduate programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders in the state of Maine. The undergraduate program provides the background for students to apply to Master’s programs in either audiology or speech-language pathology. It also equips majors to pursue careers or graduate study in a variety of fields including education, business, and health care.
Graduate Program Accreditation
The Master’s (M.A.) education program in speech- language pathology at the University of Maine is accredited by the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (residential) of the American Speech- Language-Hearing Association, 2200 Research Boulevard, #310, Rockville, MD 20850, 800-498- 2071 or 301-296-5700.
A major component of the graduate program is the department’s on-campus clinic, the Madelyn E. and Albert D. Conley Speech, Language and Hearing Center. In the clinic and its outreach programs, speech-language pathologists develop new procedures for assessment and therapy. Family-centered practice is a major focus of the Conley Center. The clinical, academic, and research components of the department’s mission are well integrated, and student research is strongly emphasized.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at UMaine
The University of Maine is committed to creating and sustaining a welcoming environment for all students, faculty, staff, and visitors. That environment, critical to the vigorous discovery/learning processes that define a university, also depends on diversity–diversity of ideas, cultures, experiences, and backgrounds. The challenge, for all of us, is to seek out diversity, which is the lifeblood of a healthy intellectual environment, and to recruit and retain people who are traditionally underrepresented on our campus. An inclusive environment is essential. Efforts are underway in the CSD department related to diversity, equity, and inclusion of and for our faculty, students, and the clients we serve.
University of Maine Land Acknowledgement
The University of Maine recognizes that it is located on Marsh Island in the homeland of the Penobscot Nation, where issues of water and territorial rights, and encroachment upon sacred sites, are ongoing. Penobscot homeland is connected to the other Wabanaki Tribal Nations — the Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, and Mi’kmaq — through kinship, alliances and diplomacy. The University also recognizes that the Penobscot Nation and the other Wabanaki Tribal Nations are distinct, sovereign, legal and political entities with their own powers of self-governance and self-determination.
The University’s Diversity Action Plan guides our efforts to achieve seven key goals: communicate clearly and affirmatively the University’s commitment to diversity; make substantial progress on our Affirmative Action goals; retain employees of difference; value diversity as an essential component of the curriculum; increase the percentage of undergraduate and graduate students of color; retain those students through degree completion; and offer programming to sustain a community of respect for differences.