Communication Sciences and Disorders

Dr. Elizabeth Grillo Education and Travel Award

Dr. Elizabeth Grillo’s indirect costs from her National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders R15 grant, Effectiveness of Telepractice by the VoiceEvalU8 App in the Prevention of Voice Problems, funds the award. The objective of this award is to support undergraduate and graduate students in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders who are presenting research at professional conferences. The fund awards up to $250 annually per student recipient.

Quindlen Family Scholarship

This scholarship is in honor of alumna Michele Super Quindlen. In 1984, Michele completed an undergraduate B.S. in education specializing in speech correction and in 1987, she earned an M.A. in speech pathology. Michele spent 30 years as a speech-language pathologist in various settings including schools, home care, and most recently acute care hospitals. Michele and her husband Tom Quindlen have donated scholarship awards to the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. The students, faculty, and staff of the Department are enormously grateful for the kindness of the Quindlen family in their generous donations. The scholarship is awarded to outstanding undergraduate students in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders with financial need chosen at the discretion of the department. Each recipient will receive a $5,000 scholarship applied to tuition and fees.

Gunter CSD Centennial Endowment

Cheryl D. Gunter, Ph.D. CCC-SLP, Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD), was the CSD Department Chairperson from 2013-2019 before she became the Associate Dean of the College of Health Sciences. This endowment reflects the desire of Dr. Gunter, a first-generation college student herself, to support other first-generation students whose career aspiration is to provide clinical services to individuals with communication disorders and clinical support to the families of these patients. As someone who was involved in extensive on-campus and off-campus activities, Dr. Gunter also wants to support students who appreciate the relationship between the curricular and the extracurricular aspects of an education and the learning that can come from both. The name of the endowment reflects the centennial of the establishment of the "Speech Clinic" for the campus in 1923, an occasion that the CSD Department celebrated in 2023.

Awarded by the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, the Gunter CSD Centennial Scholarship Endowment will support a first-generation in college rising sophomore or junior student pursuing a B.A. in Communication Sciences & Disorders. Qualified candidates must have attained a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 across all academic coursework and must provide evidence of meaningful engagement in both campus and community service. The scholarship committee may request additional information and clarity on campus and community engagement from applicants as needed.

Elizabeth Tyson Memorial Scholarship

This scholarship was established by an estate gift of John E. Tyson in memory of his aunt, S. Elizabeth Tyson. Miss Tyson, an associate professor of English at West Chester Normal School, used the experience of teaching her nephew to speak to become one of the pioneers in the field of speech therapy. Through her determined and innovative methods, John learned to speak. His success inspired his aunt to establish one of the first speech, language, and hearing clinics in the country. The West Chester University Speech and Hearing Clinic has been in continuous operation since Elizabeth Tyson founded it in 1923. The scholarship is awarded annually to an outstanding Pre-Graduate Certificate Program student in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Each recipient will receive a $500 scholarship applied to tuition and fees.

Vincent V Suppan Scholarship

This scholarship is in honor of alumnus and faculty member Vincent V. Suppan. Vincent was born in Nazareth, PA on June 1, 1920. He received a B.S. degree in Music Education from West Chester State College in 1947 and an M.A. in Speech and Drama in 1951 from Teacher’s College, Columbia University. He worked as a high school teacher. As a speech clinician in a public school, Vincent joined the faculty of West Chester University State College in 1964, where he served until his retirement in 1982. The scholarship is awarded annually to an outstanding undergraduate student in the Department of Communication Disorders who demonstrates outstanding service contributions through the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders local chapter of the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association (NSSLHA). Each recipient will receive a $1,000 scholarship applied to tuition and fees.