WHEREAS, there is a well-documented need for speech-language
pathologists serving Delaware residents in schools, and also in clinics serving
Delawareans across the lifespan, and with the nation-wide demand for these
professionals projected to grow by 23% between 2010 and 2020 by the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics, and
WHEREAS, the College of Health Sciences is ideally positioned to
develop such a program, because of clear synergies with its top-ranked physical
therapy program, as well as the opportunity to create optimal clinical
facilities to support this program in the transition of the College to the STAR
campus, and
WHEREAS, the College of Health Sciences has brought in several
consultants who have gone through the process of establishing master’s programs
in speech-language pathology (the degree required for licensure in all states)
to provide expert advice for the development of the proposed curriculum and
related budget, and
WHEREAS, budget projections carefully reviewed by
financial analysts in both the University Budget Office and the Provost’s
Office show the program becoming self-sustaining after four years of operation,
and
WHEREAS, the proposed program, if
established, will contribute to the University's "Path to
Prominence": to become a premier research and graduate university; be it
therefore
RESOLVED, that the Faculty Senate recommends, provisionally for five years, the establishment of a approves the
curriculum of the proposed new M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology, and
be it further
RESOLVED, that the College of
Health Sciences will not launch the program in the absence of identified
sources of full financial support for the first four years of operation.
RESOLVED, that
the Faculty Senate shall consider recommending the
establishment of a new M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology when likely sources and amounts of full
financial support for the first several years of operation of this program have
been specified by the Dean of the College of Health Sciences.