With a longstanding tradition of both clinical and research excellence, as well as a recently completed $10 million renovation to the Barkley Memorial Center, the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders stands ready for its next leader to continue the journey from excellent to extraordinary.
SECD enhances the lives of individuals with special needs to achieve maximum potential for learning, autonomous communication, maximal health and well-being, and access to the world. The department also promotes the pursuit of knowledge and discovery for its professions through exemplary teaching, research, service, and community engagement to provide accessible education, clinical service, and communication to everyone.
SECD is comprised of tenure-line faculty, professors of practice, and clinic staff working to prepare future researchers, educators and clinicians. A recently completed and successful Academic Program Review has positioned the department for continued excellence. Educators and clinicians are prepared with the knowledge and skills to improve the academic, social, and life outcomes for children, youth and adults with disabilities, and their families.
The department is made up of three programs and a dynamic mix of education- and health-related fields. The special education program offers an undergraduate teacher preparation program, two master’s degrees and several endorsements and graduate certificates. The communication sciences and disorders undergraduate program serves as a pre-professional training program in both speech-language pathology and audiology. The master’s degree in speech-language pathology prepares students to work primarily in schools and medical settings, while the clinical doctorate in audiology (Au.D.) degree prepares students to work primarily in allied health fields. There are two Ph.D. options in the department, one for those focusing on education and one focusing on human sciences.
The Barkley Memorial Center, home to the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders, was built with funds from the Barkley Trust. Revenue from the Barkley Trust accounts for about 67% of the department’s annual budget. Today, the Barkley Center has about 81,000 square feet with nearly 73,000 square feet dedicated to the Department’s teaching, research, service, and outreach functions. Faculty also occupy research space at the Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior on City Campus.
SECD’s ample facilities and collaborative nature have led to the development of several partnerships both within the Barkley Center and beyond its walls, including:
Barkley Speech Language and Hearing Clinic. The newly renovated Barkley Speech Language and Hearing Clinic opened to clients in August 2022. The 13,000 square-foot clinic offers ample opportunity to expand and improve the department’s outreach to the community and students’ training in the fields of audiology and speech-language pathology.
Kit and Dick Schmoker Reading Center. Founded in 2004, the Kit and Dick Schmoker Reading Center was established to provide reading and writing tutoring to children in the community who are reading below grade level. It is an educational site focused on practical experiences for pre-service and in-service teachers in CEHS and provides experience in instructional approaches for improving the literacy skills of children and their families.
Scottish Rite – UNL Satellite. The Barkley Center houses the Lincoln satellite of the Scottish Rite’s Nebraska Clinics. Nebraska’s Rite Care has provided clinical services to children who are not meeting specific speech and language developmental milestones for more than 40 years at no cost to families.
Nebraska Stroke Association. The Nebraska Stroke Association serves Nebraskans through stroke prevention, education, advocacy, and support services. A faculty member in SECD serves as a board member, and the NSA offers volunteer and paid externships to undergraduate students interested in promoting stroke awareness and education.
Nebraska ASD Network. The Nebraska ASD Network is supported through funding from the Nebraska Department of Education, and provides training and technical assistance to local school districts, educational service units and parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.
RESEARCH EXCELLENCE
SECD’s sponsored awards for FY23 totaled $3.3 million and research expenditures were more than $1.7 million. Within the more than 6,700 square feet devoted to laboratory space are six functioning wet labs providing research space for brain-computer interface, communication in neuroscience, neuroimaging for language, literacy and learning, sensorimotor integration for swallowing and communication, cochlear implant investigations and vestibular assessment.
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