Introduction

The ComD mission statement and core values were collaboratively developed by the faculty in 2021. The mission statement and core values are foundational to our strategic plan and decision making.

Mission statement

The mission of the Department of Communication Disorders is to build belonging, achievement and growth through Christlike service to:

  • Empower lifelong learners
  • Engage in impactful research
  • Provide compassionate, evidence-based clinical care

The department's core values are Belonging, Becoming, Collaboration and Kindness.

Our department mission statement is aligned with our university aims which state that “BYU seeks to develop students of faith, intellect, and character who have the skills and the desire to continue learning and to serve others throughout their lives.” Essentially, the aims remind us that “education at BYU should be spiritually strengthening, intellectually enlarging, character building and leading to lifelong learning and service”. Our learning outcomes are aligned at the course and program level.

To build on the positive progress of our department, we are currently focused on the objectives and values summarized below.

Belonging

  • Redesign our undergraduate and graduate admissions process to reflect current evidence-based methods of increasing equitable access and diversity among our students
  • Enhance new student orientation programs at the undergraduate and graduate level to increase a culture of belonging among our students
  • Use ambassadors and the BE in ComD committee to decrease microaggressions and promote mentorship in undergraduate and graduate students
  • Increase student inclusion and connection by reaching out to ALL ComD students using a coordinated ComD calendar for all events
  • Increase clinical outreach to underserved populations in the Utah County area and involve graduates as well as undergraduates in the outreach efforts

Becoming

Faculty development

  • Facilitate mentoring, networking connections, and resources to support faculty success in all stages of their careers in teaching, research, and clinical education
  • Recruit outstanding faculty to fill department openings
  • Add new FTE positions to the department faculty

Graduate Program Growth

  • Explore needed resources and pursue university approval to significantly increase our graduate cohort capacity
  • Explore options to offer elective academic courses to broaden graduate student preparation and Increase audiology- and hearing-related content in graduate courses
  • Explore alternate thesis options to allow for rigorous research opportunities and mentoring while balancing the scalability of our graduate cohort 
  • Adopt a graduate clinical training model that can be scaled for additional students while also increasing number and diversity (e.g., underserved, low SES, English language learners) of clients and referral sources at BYU Speech and Language Clinic 
  • Increase opportunity for audiology collaboration - hearing services, aural rehab in clinic and externships

Undergraduate Program Growth

  • Help undergraduates understand the variety of post-graduation options including work force entry, graduate programs in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, SLP-A and Aud-A certification
  • Explore student opportunities for professional shadowing and for SLP-A readiness
  • Increase focus on life skills gained through the program – critical thinking, problem solving, and personal leadership
  • increase mental health awareness and implement preventative and support strategies
  • Explore possibilities of increasing enrollment in the undergraduate program
  • Increase required and elective course offerings
  • Increase Audiology representation in courses, mentoring and resources

Use of Space 

  • Work towards a vision of dedicated classrooms, clinic and lab spaces that provide state of the art learning opportunities, research, and collaborative gathering through remodeling and expansion 

Collaboration

Local Professional collaboration in our program

  • Continue to identify and increase IPE opportunities on campus with programs that align with the field of Communication Disorders
  • Provide student opportunities to attend monthly Audiology club meetings to network with guest speakers/instructors, invited from local audiology clinics and related organizations
  • Increase professional shadowing and volunteer opportunities with Audiologists
  • Increase relationships and supervision training for externship partners in education and healthcare settings while developing more externship partnerships to support cohort growth
  • Clinical faculty partnership with ECE program to design and implement grant funded clinical services for low SES and clients with multicultural diversity
  • Work together with representatives from the college and BYU Career Services to plan an annual ComD network event, to invite undergraduate and graduate students to meet and learn from community professionals in the fields of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology

National Professional collaboration in our program

  • Plan annual continuing education opportunities for our students and community professionals with visiting scholars who complement and augment the research of our department faculty

Kindness

Respect and caring for each other 

  • Reinforce a culture of kindness, respect and caring for all interactions among faculty, students, clients and the community
  • Intentionally plan gatherings for faculty and students to promote collegiality and belonging
  • Increase student and faculty training on microaggressions and facilitate a process for anonymously reporting microaggressions in ComD

Respect and caring for all clients 

  • Improve systems of communicating semester/term contracts that inform clients of our policies and procedures, community resources, home programs and transition plans
  • Regularly survey our clients regarding respect and caring environments, service delivery, quality control, etc.
  • Improve our management of the waiting lists to include bi-annual contact to update and inform potential clients of other resources available to them if/when we are not able to see them right away