Luanne Andersson

Welcome to this web page!

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. The following is a very brief summary of my education and career; I have included this information in hopes of offering encouragement to students who may be following a career path that has taken some twists and turns or who may think that if they are unsure of their career direction as Freshmen, then pursuing a professional degree is out of reach. Some students enter college with a particular career in mind, others find their chosen fields a bit later. My journey illustrates just one variation in the path to a meaningful career.

I received a Bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University in the area of Social Sciences. The Social Sciences major allowed me to select courses from three areas of interest, with varying numbers of credits obtained for each selected area. I elected Communication Disorders as the area in which I would take the fewest credits. After obtaining the Bachelor’s degree, I took a year off from school to decide what I might like to do as a career. Although I knew that I with a degree in Social Sciences I would need to pursue a Master’s degree, I didn’t have a clear direction.  A friend suggested that I consider the field of speech-language pathology; this seemed like a good fit because I had enjoyed the courses that I had taken as part of my Social Sciences major. I decided to pursue a Master’s degree at Florida State University. Because I did not have all of the prerequisites needed, I had to take several undergraduate courses before beginning the Master’s program. After completing the Master’s degree I planned to work with adults, however, I ended up working with children in a variety of settings! After working as a clinician for 16 years I decided that it was time to pursue a Ph.D. I received a Ph.D. from the University on Connecticut in 1998 and joined the faculty at Ithaca College in the same year.