The following article by Richard J. Schissel is the second in a series tracing the 75-year history of the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology.
By the end of 1936 Frederick Van Doren Martin had left Ithaca, relocating his Institute for Speech Correction in Bristol, Rhode Island, where it became the National Institute for Voice Disorders. At Ithaca College Martin Hall became a women's dormitory, and the program in speech correction became part of the Department of Speech and Drama. Almost immediately it began losing momentum and support, and by 1940 the curriculum was reduced to being part of the B.S. degree in oral English. The college catalogs for the years 1940-43 list only 6 credits in "speech pathology and correction," though in 1944 the curriculum expanded to 11 credits.
By 1951 speech and drama had become separate departments. The curriculum in speech pathology was offered through the speech department and consisted of 6 credits as part of the B.S. degree in speech. The 1951 catalog also lists, for the first time, graduate course work in speech pathology. The work consisted of 12 credits, was designed primarily for students pursuing state teaching certification, and was part of the new but short-lived M.S. in speech. By 1955 the graduate degree had been abolished, but the undergraduate curriculum was up to 8 credits. By 1957 it had expanded to 15 credits.
In 1958 the speech and drama departments were reunited. The new Department of Drama and Speech offered a number of curriculum options leading to a B.S. in speech, including a 15-credit "speech/speech correction combination." The catalog stipulated that this option "satisfies the requirements of the American Speech and Hearing Association for a program of speech therapy. Students graduating from this program are also certified to teach in the secondary school system." In only a few years this option metamorphosed into a recognizable model of our current program. By 1962 the department offered a separate option in speech correction, including course work in audiometry and audiology, program planning, clinical practice, and practice teaching.
When Martin left Ithaca in 1936, only Ralph Jones, a longtime client and acolyte, remained to continue the academic program. From 1936 to 1951 he kept the program alive almost single-handedly.
Jones
received a B.S. in psychology from Wesleyan University in 1925
and arrived in Ithaca later that year to receive speech therapy
for his stuttering. From 1926 to 1929 he worked part-time as an
assistant at the Martin Institute and took graduate courses at
Cornell in education and psychology. He was hired in 1929 as a
speech correctionist by the Ithaca public schools but returned
to Ithaca College in 1936 when Martin left. From 1936 to 1951
he taught courses at the College, worked for the Ithaca schools,
and pursued a master's degree in education part-time at Columbia
University with a specialty in deaf education. He continued to
serve as an adjunct faculty member off and on until his death
20 years later.
A second major figure in the development of the speech correction program during this period was Roberta Barnett. She joined the speech and drama faculty in 1945 and assisted Jones in delivering the curriculum in speech correction. By 1951 the Department of Speech and Drama had separated into two, Barnett had replaced Jennie Tallcott as chair of the speech correction department, and the program began expanding again.
In 1951 Jones left to devote full time to his position in the Ithaca public schools and the Ithaca Summer Speech Clinic (which has since evolved into the Empire State Speech and Hearing Clinic), and Barnett hired Keith Davidson and John Gunning. In 1955 Emmett Raney and Margaret Behringer joined the program. The graduate course work was eliminated that year, and suddenly there were more faculty than courses in speech correction. By 1957 the faculty was reduced to Barnett and Behringer.
Since Barnett was having difficulty retaining speech professors, the department in 1958 was remerged with drama under the leadership of George Hoerner. As the theater named in his honor indicates, Hoerner built his reputation in the area of stagecraft. Yet he was also a strong supporter of speech correction, having taken graduate-level course work in the program.
By 1962 the curriculum had expanded to 36-40 credits and the full-time
faculty had shrunk to Barnett and Robert Thompson. In the next
few years T. Walter Carlin would join the faculty, the clinic
would move into the annex on Buffalo Street, and speech correction
would move with the speech department when speech and drama separated
yet again.