Admissions Committee

Dr. Rachel M. Theodore is Associate Professor of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences at the University of Connecticut, where she directs the UConn Laboratory for Spoken Language Processing. She is also Faculty Affiliate of the Language and Cognition program in the Department of Psychological Sciences, the Cognitive Science Program, and the Connecticut Institute for the Brain and Cognitive Sciences. She is Director of the Neurobiology of Language graduate training program and highly involved with two current training grants in the UConn language sciences community (NSF NRT, NIH/NIDCD T32). She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Northeastern University and completed post-doctoral training in Cognitive & Linguistic Sciences at Brown University.  Both her B.S. and M.A. are in the field of Speech and Hearing Sciences. She currently serves as Associate Editor for Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics and the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America – Express Letters, and is Vice President of Admissions on the Board of Directors for the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders.

Radhika Aravamudhan, PhD, is currently an Associate Professor and serves as the Dean for the Osborne College of Audiology at Salus University. Dr. Aravamudhan joined Salus University in 2005 after her position as a research associate at Boys Town National Research Hospital. 

Along with teaching other courses, she continues to be the co-instructor of the interprofessional course, “Evidence-Based Practice: An Interprofessional Approach” at Salus University, and she has spearheaded several interprofessional initiatives in collaboration with faculty at the university. Her areas of research interests include (1) understanding and evaluating the electrophysiologic correlates of speech encoding in the auditory system and (2) studying the role of signal processing (in auditory prostheses such as cochlear implants) on speech perception and perceptual learning.

In the professional world outside Salus, Dr. Aravamudhan has served on the planning committee for Audiology Education Summit that American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA), served on the Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA) Board, and was elected as the Vice-Chair of Audiology on the CAA Board. She currently serves on the ASHA’s Academic Affairs Board. She has also served as a Student to Empowered Professional (S.T.E.P.) mentor within ASHA. She currently serves as the Vice President of Academic Affairs for Audiology on the ASHA board.

Erin S. Burns, Au.D., is currently the Audiology Clinic Director at Lamar University. Areas of interest include Evidence-Based Practice, clinical efficiency, coding & billing, and admissions.

Danai Kasambira Fannin PhD, CCC-SLP, is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at North Carolina Central University. She has research interests in health equity across the lifespan, as well as social determinants of early identification and access to autism services for culturally and linguistically diverse children in underserved areas. Dr. Fannin also promotes dissemination of strategies to diversify the speech pathology and audiology workforce through enhanced recruitment and retention efforts. She has co-Chaired the CAPCSD Diversity Equity & Inclusion Committee and continues to co-present CAPCSD's Admissions Summit.

Program coordinator for the residential and online graduate programs at the University of Northern Colorado.  Areas of interest are clinical instruction, admissions, community engaged programming, and working with preschoolers with speech and language disorders.  

Leigh G. Schaid, AuD, is an Associate Professor at Pacific University. She serves as a clinical provider, preceptor, and instructor in the AuD program. Her area of practice includes pediatric diagnostics, with a focus on the birth-three population. Her research interests focus on holistic review in health professions admissions.

Heidi Verticchio, EdD, CCC-SLP is the Clinic Director and Director of Advisement in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Illinois State University. Her primary responsibilities include managing the business operations of the on-campus Eckelmann-Taylor Speech and Hearing Clinic.  Additionally, Heidi is the academic advisor for graduate students in speech-language pathology and audiology. Heidi has taught CSD 432: Professional Issues. Heidi has served as the Chairperson of the Conference Planning Committee for CAPCSD and volunteered in several capacities for CAPCSD. Additional contributions include presentations and publications in the discipline. 

Danielle J. Watson, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is an Associate Professor in the Speech Pathology and Audiology Department at Tennessee State University. In addition to serving as the Departmental Admissions Coordinator and Clinic Director, she teaches numerous graduate and undergraduate courses. 

She serves on the Admissions Committee for the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CAPCSD), the Council for Clinical Certification in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CFCC), and is a member of the Foundation Board for the Tennessee Association of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists (TAASLP). Dr. Watson is also the co-founder of Multicultural Concerns in CSD (MC2) at the University of Cincinnati, which is an organization that addresses Diversity/Equity and Inclusion for undergraduate and graduate students. 

Megan has been with CAPCSD since 2018 as the Director of Centralized Admissions. She oversees the CSDCAS system. Prior to her work with CAPCSD, she worked in academic accreditation for CSD programs for nearly a decade. Megan has a master's degree in Educational Technology and Instructional Design. She is interested in process improvements and efficiencies, building community, and efforts to diversity the communication sciences and disorders workforce.