A new endowment at the University of Central Arkansas will provide scholarships to doctoral students conducting research in the new Communication Sciences and Disorders doctoral program consortium.
The McNiece Doctoral Endowed Research Fellowship was established by the late Virginia McNiece. She was the mother of Dr. Jim McNiece, a retired Conway orthodontist, and the mother-in-law of Dr. Elaine McNiece, dean of graduate studies at UCA.
?I realized that there was no support for doctoral students who are at the stage of conducting research, so I suggested setting up a fund to help students defray those costs,? said Elaine. ?The McNiece family has placed great value on higher education. Jim?s parents strongly encouraged us to keep going in school. This fellowship is a recognition, by the McNiece family, of the value they place on earning an advanced degree.?
The first fellowship will be awarded in the spring.
The doctoral degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders is offered through a new consortium program established by the Department of Speech-Language Pathology at UCA in conjunction with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The first students were admitted to the program last fall.
The doctoral consortium program is designed for students with entry-level degree training in the areas of speech-language pathology, audiology and/or speech and hearing sciences.
Dr. Susan Moss-Logan, interim director of the consortium, said there is a severe national shortage of doctoral-prepared (Ph.D.) faculty in communications sciences and disorders.
There is not another program like this in the state. In fact, when the doctoral program was first discussed nearly a decade ago, officials at UCA, UALR and UAMS agreed that no single program in the state had all of the resources necessary to offer the degree and that was why the consortium was formed.
The consortium structure provides the opportunity for interdisciplinary research in both medically oriented sites and in conventional college campus locations.
Doctoral students have the opportunity to collaborate on research with specialists working with the full range of the population, from children to the elderly and with disciplines including otolaryngology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, nursing, psychology and special education.
Students have access to research facilities to study fluency, swallowing, auditory perception, language development, electrophysiology, and other areas.
?Even though most students have financial assistance, there are always these extra costs for a doctoral student,? Moss-Logan said. ?One of those costs comes from doing their own research. Students often have to purchase supplies and equipment or pay for travel, and this fund would help support their research endeavors. It is very difficult to be a full-time doctoral student and meet your financial obligations. Any assistance they can receive, especially for their research, is just fabulous.?
?We are so pleased that the McNiece family has chosen to support students enrolled in this new doctoral program,? said Vice President of Institutional Advancement and Development Kelley Erstine. ?Having a graduate dean who not only recognizes a need, but also assists in fulfilling that need, is a true asset to the university and its students.?
