Ithaca College Quarterly
The following article by Richard J. Schissel is the third in a series tracing the 75-year history of the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology.
The period between 1962 and 1985 was probably the most active and exciting, as well as chaotic, time in the history of the department. It was a period marked by the establishment of a professional identity nationally, in the community, and on campus. It was during this time that the program achieved department status, moved physically from downtown to South Hill and from Lyon Hall to what would become Smiddy Hall, moved administratively from the School of Arts and Sciences to a new School of Allied Health Professions, and reinstituted the graduate programs and got them accredited. Finally, it was a period noteworthy for its rapid faculty and administrative turnover.
In 1962-63, as much of the College was beginning its move to the new South Hill campus, speech correction was housed in Williams Hall, at the corner of Buffalo and Tioga Streets. Most of Williams was now a dining hall, but faculty offices and therapy rooms were on the second floor --- therapy was conducted amid the constant and mostly unpleasant scent of food preparation. In 1964 the program was moved to the annex on Buffalo Street, and by 1966 the program was fully incorporated into the South Hill campus. The clinic was located in Lyon Hall, in the basement of the health center. Faculty offices originally were in Muller Center but soon moved to join the clinic in Lyon. For the next 15 years the program enjoyed geographic stability.
In 1972 the program was transferred administratively to the new School of Allied Health Professions but remained in Lyon Hall. In 1981 the College erected a new building to house the Schools of Business and Allied Health Professions and in 1982 speech pathology and audiology moved into the new academic building, later named Smiddy Hall. It still occupies this space today.
The most significant year in the history of the program may have been 1966. By that time the Department of Drama and Speech had separated once again and the program accompanied the Department of Speech to South Hill. The master’s degree programs in both speech pathology and audiology, reimplemented the previous year, graduated their first classes. The program achieved department status and would be listed in the 1967 catalog for the first time as the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology.
This also was the year in which the clinic became the Sir Alexander Ewing–Ithaca College Speech and Hearing Clinic. Ewing was an Englishman who had achieved prominence for his work with the hearing impaired. The first chair of the new speech pathology and audiology department, T. Walter Carlin, had become enamored of Ewing while studying with him at the University of Manchester. Though Ewing had never been a benefactor of Ithaca College nor shown any interest in or even knowledge of the department, Carlin convinced the College administration that it should honor Ewing. This it did by bringing Sir Alexander and Lady Ewing to Ithaca, all expenses paid, awarding him an honorary doctorate in 1966, and naming the clinic after him.
The basic 40-credit hour program, in effect since 1962, varied only slightly over the next 20 years as the department began establishing its credentials. In 1969 the graduate programs in speech pathology and in audiology received their first accreditation by the New York State Education Department. In 1970 the department offered, for the first time, teaching and non-teaching degree options.
In 1972 the department joined the Department of Health Services Administration and the Division of Physical Therapy in the new School of Allied Health Professions under acting dean Louis DiCarlo. And in 1979 the graduate programs were accredited for the first time by the Educational Standards Board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
With the possible exception of the speech and hearing camp there is probably nothing as closely associated with the department as the "Big Blue Bus," on the road for the first time in September 1970. (We have the photo courtesy of Dale Husted.) Conceived as a community service as well as a way to provide additional clinical experience for graduate audiology students, the Mobile Audiology Unit was funded by Easter Seals, Sertoma, the Lions Club, and other organizations. It was equipped with two Bekesy audiometers and Madsen immittance equipment. Driven by Dale Husted and staffed by an ASHA-certified audiologist and graduate students, the bus was a frequent visitor to nursing homes, hospitals, schools, and the New York State Fair. Always in search of the elusive clinical clock hour, the unit also made trips to Defiance, Ohio; Martinsville, Indiana; and, once, a three-week foray into Kentucky.
As funding dwindled, the unit was taken out of service in June 1977. It was sold to the Lions Club, which painted it purple and used it for a time as a mobile blood pressure unit. It was last seen at the Empire State Speech and Hearing Clinic.
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