Mission Statement

Goal Statement: The Department will continue to strengthen collaboration with community partners and stakeholders with an emphasis on the following:

• Enhancing and sustaining adequate placements within local educational and medical settings for all students to complete their internship experiences
• Continuing to offer free speech and language services to local communities through CSULB Speech and Language Clinic
• Reconnecting with alumni to promote engagement in mentoring the next generation of SLPs

Issues: It becomes increasingly difficult to secure internship placements for our students because of the growing competition from local and online SLP programs. To sustain our ability to offer free speech and language services to local communities, CSULB Speech and Language Clinic needs to establish a feasible and sustainable budget plan through fundraising campaigns and collaborating with community partners. CSULB SLP department currently does not have an effective method to connect with alumni to encourage departmental activities' participation and engagement

Yearly Objectives 

By Spring 2021, SLP Department will  

• Distribute the first department newsletter highlighting outstanding graduate alumni across settings and field master clinicians. (Met)
• Create a database of alumni and clients for potential fundraising events. (Met in 2022)

By Spring 2022, SLP Department will  

• Add three (3) new affiliation agreements with local hospitals and private practices (multidisciplinary focused). (Met)
• Continue distributing the department newsletter and donation flyer once a year. (Met)

By Spring 2023, SLP Department will

• Successfully place up to 15 students per semester for the clinical internship experience (in the hospital or private practice settings).(Met)
• Host homecoming/Open house events to maintain relationships with alumni, clients, community partners, and adjunct faculty. (Not Met)

Strategies:

• Develop a workshop on supervision as a resource and incentive for those who supervise CSULB students in school or medical placements.
• Streamline CSULB affiliation agreements to allow for ease in execution by community partners.
• Form an Advisory Board taskforce comprised of members from medical settings who can provide in-depth external stakeholder feedback on the most effective ways to identify, promote, and sustain placements for CSULB students.
• Form an Advisory Board taskforce comprised of members from school settings who can provide in-depth external stakeholder feedback on the most effective ways to identify, promote, and sustain placements for CSULB students.

Goal Statement: In acknowledging the ASHA initiative to increase diversity in the professions, the department will increase its enrollment of students from underrepresented groups to reach 50% of total graduate enrollment by 2023

Issues: The SLP MA program currently has an average of 30% of students from underrepresented groups. However, the number of Black students has been historically low. The low enrollment is also seen in international, male, and bilingual students. To better serve clients from diverse backgrounds, there is a pressing need to increase workforce diversity.

Yearly Objectives: 

 By Spring 2021, SLP Department will have  

• Increase the enrollment of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students to 30%. (Met)
• Increase the enrollment of bilingual/bicultural students to 15%. (Met)
• Increase the number of students who complete the Certificate in Professional and Conversational Competence for Spanish Heritage Speakers to 10%. (Met)

By Spring 2022, SLP Department will  

• Maintain the enrollment for at least one Black student per graduate cohort. (Met)
• Increase the enrollment of BIPOC students to 40%. (Met)
• Increase the enrollment of bilingual/bicultural students to 20%. (Met)
• Keep the minority students' program completion rate above 80%. (Met)

By Spring 2023, SLP Department will

• Maintain the enrollment for at least two Black students per graduate cohort. (Partially Met)
• Maintain the enrollment of historically minoritized/marginalized students in the profession by at least 30%. (Met)
• Increase the enrollment of bilingual and/or bicultural students to 25%. (Met)
• Increase the historically minoritized/marginalized students' program completion rate above 90%. (Met)

Strategies:

• The department will participate in at least one off-campus and one on-campus event per year to promote the profession of communication sciences and disorders. Off-campus events will specifically target local high school students in underrepresented groups.
• The department will continue refining and implementing a holistic graduate admission process that considers all aspects of an applicant, such as linguistic and cultural background, the ability to serve clients from diverse backgrounds, etc.  
• The department will actively promote the “Certificate in Professional and Conversational Competence for Spanish Heritage Speakers” program through outreach programs and hold information sessions for local high school students  

Goal Statement: Continue to assess and revise the department curriculum to a) add an introductory course that introduces the field of communication sciences and disorders to undergrad students, b) update contemporary issues in educational settings to better prepare students working in schools, c) emphasize culturally responsive service delivery across different subject areas, and 4) address developmental speech sound disorders across different pediatric courses. 

Issues: 1) To advocate and increase visibility for the profession of speech-language pathology and audiology, 2) to address contemporary issues occurring in the educational setting and to better prepare students for working with children aged 3-21, 3) to cultivate students' cultural competence and humility as well as their ability to work with clients from diverse backgrounds, and 4) to address the feedback received from the advisory board regarding the need to increase students' clinical competency in managing developmental speech sound disorders especially speech sounds disorders across different developmental disorders.

Yearly Objectives: 

By Spring 2021, SLP Department will

• Start offering revised SLP 575 with up-to-date contemporary issues related to school-based SLPs. (Met)   

By Spring 2022, SLP Department will

• Have at least one student learning outcome to address developmental speech sound disorders in SLP 662 and SLP 667. (Met)

By Spring 2023, SLP Department will

• Develop an entry-level introductory course that introduces the field of communication sciences and disorders. (Met)
• Incorporate a student learning objective to address cultural competence and cultural humility in all undergraduate and graduate seminar/clinical courses. (Met)

Strategies:​

• The department will offer a 100-level course that introduces the field of communication sciences and disorders in AY 2023-2024.
• SLP 575 will incorporate telepractice, interprofessional collaboration, counseling, culturally responsive service delivery, and other topics associated with special education-related service delivery. Potential topics include special education laws, telepractice, interdisciplinary practice, counseling techniques, behavior management techniques, legal issues associated with special education services.
• Every academic course in the SLP undergraduate and graduate programs will include a learning objective and a class assignment and/or activity on implicit bias/cultural humility and sensitivity to increasing students' competence in providing culturally responsive service to clients from diverse backgrounds.
• Developmental speech sound disorders will be addressed in SLP 662 and SLP 667. Developmental speech sound disorders will be addressed across different developmental disabilities through class discussion and assignments to develop competencies in assessing and treating developmental speech sound disorders and comorbidity with other developmental language disorders in a more holistic fashion.