Academic Affairs Committee

Dr. Sheri Tracy Bayley is an assistant professor and undergraduate coordinator of Speech-Language Pathology at Nevada State University in Henderson, NV. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and PhD from Florida State University. Her research interests include early autism identification, neurodivergent supports, and scholarship of teaching/learning. 

Dr. Nydia Bou is a Senior Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence and Chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Emerson College. For over 27 years she has performed a variety of roles in higher education including teaching, administration, new program development and assessment, academic accreditation, research, and grant writing. Within the Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) field her areas of interest include Spanish phonetics and phonology, speech perception, and speech production analysis. She is passionate about mentoring and supporting the professional development of the future generation of SLP's and committed to increase the representation in the field.

Dr. Debra (Debbie) Burnett is an associate professor of communication sciences and disorders at Springfield College in Springfield, MA. She is also the chair of the Department of Public Health and Health Professions. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees from SUNY Geneseo and her PhD from Syracuse University.  Her research interests include child language, assessment in early childhood, and SoTL.

Dr. Sandra Combs is the Capstone Coordinator and an Associate Professor in the SLPD program at Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions in Provo, Utah. Dr. Combs has supervised, taught and mentored undergraduate, masters, and doctoral for more than more than 15 years. She is a Fellow of the Ohio Speech Language Hearing Association where she served in a variety of roles including President of the Association. Dr. Combs’ teaching and research interests include the scholarship of teaching and learning, school-age language disorders, literacy, persistent speech sound disorders, and autism.

Dr. Shubha Kashinath is Professor in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. She also is a Research Development Faculty Fellow at the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs and Co-Director for the Center for Disability Justice Research: Health Equity, Education, and Creativity. She received an M.S. in Speech and Hearing Sciences from the University of Arizona and a Ph.D. in Communicative Sciences and Disorders from Florida State University. Dr. Kashinath's research is focused on individuals with autism across the lifespan, family centered early interventions, personnel preparation in speech language pathology and issues related to disability justice.  She has over 24 years of clinical experience serving families of young children with disabilities.

Dr. Moineau joined the faculty at CSUSM in January 2006 to design, develop and launch the graduate, undergraduate and post-baccalaureate programs in speech-language pathology. Her areas of expertise and teaching are in the neuroscience of communication and swallowing, acquired language disorders in adults, dysphagia, and anatomy and physiology of the speech and hearing mechanism. Her research interests focus on the nature of acquired language and swallowing disorders, and scholarship of teaching and learning in the field of speech-language pathology. She has extensive experience working as a medical speech-language pathologist in acute care settings, with a focus on intensive care.

Dr. Amy Nichols is an assistant professor and clinical coordinator for Audiology at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. She received her AuD and PhD concurrently at the University of South Alabama in 2010. Following graduation, she worked at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Pensacola, FL as a clinical audiologist.  Clinical specialties include tinnitus management, evoked potentials, amplification, and cochlear implants. Research interests include evoked potentials and background noise acceptance.  

Kris Pedersen, SLPD, CCC-SLP, is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing at the University of Kansas. She also serves as Director of Graduate Studies and Associate Chair. Her work focuses on early intervention practices, through clinical supervision in inclusive early childhood settings and teaching coursework in infant toddler communication and collaborative practices.

Dr. Sarah Poissant is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is also Chair of the Faculty Senate’s Graduate Council, the body responsible for advising the Dean of the Graduate School on all matters relating to the administration of graduate programs as well as developing policy recommendations relating to graduate studies within the University. She received her bachelor's degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Vermont and her master’s and PhD degrees in Communication Sciences from the University of Connecticut. Her academic affairs experience includes serving as a Chancellor’s Leadership Fellow during which time she offered a broad range of supportive professional development programming for faculty employing innovative approaches to educating adult learners. Dr. Poissant’s research program focuses on novel approaches to behavioral audiometric threshold testing procedures for use in young children or otherwise difficult-to-test populations.

Amy Rodda is the Director of Clinical Education and an Associate Teaching Professor in the Speech and Hearing Sciences Department at the University of Washington. She has worked in a variety of settings, including public schools, birth-3 services, and private clinics. Clinically, Dr. Rodda specializes in play-based therapy, social communication, and enhancing the functional communication skills of children with a broad range of communication strengths and challenges. She is a certified Early Start Denver Model provider and has completed training on the Hanen It Takes Two to Talk parent coaching program. Her research interests include understanding and supporting peer relationships and friendships of children with autism spectrum disorders. Dr. Rodda currently supervises graduate clinicians in the UW Speech and Hearing Clinic, teaches undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, and graduate courses, facilitates the Leslie Jeanne Berns Support Group for families of children with communication disorders, and mentors undergraduate research.  

Richard Zraick is a Professor and formerly the Founding Director of the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders at UCF. He is a Fellow of the American Speech, Language, and Hearing Association. He is also a Certified Health Simulation Educator. He received his undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Arizona (’84), his Master’s degree in Speech and Hearing Science from the University of Arizona (’87), and his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Arizona State University (’98). Prior to joining the faculty at UCF, he was on the faculty at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences for 17 years and taught undergraduate and graduate courses in the area of medical speech-language pathology, supervised student-clinicians in the teaching hospital and conducted research. He has over 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts in scientific journals, has given over 100 presentations at scientific and professional conferences, and is co-author of the leading textbook on voice disorders, The Voice and Voice Therapy (now in its 10th edition). His research focuses on three primary areas: (1) evaluation and treatment of voice disorders, (2) healthcare simulation, and (3) health communication. He is a “clinician at heart” and has worked as a speech-language pathologist throughout his academic career, bringing decades of clinical experience into the classroom and clinic teaching environments.