CMD Mission Statement

The major mission of the Department of Communicative Disorders is to develop clinically competent speech-language pathologists by providing master’s students with a comprehensive curriculum and broad practical opportunities. In addition, the department provides undergraduate majors with an opportunity to achieve a Bachelor of Science degree and a sufficient background to become successful graduate students in either speech-language pathology or audiology. Each department member is committed to research and service activities.

What You Should Know About Our Most Recent Graduates

Prospective students may be interested in the following information about our recent graduates. These are the most recently available data:

1. Employment Rate: 100% for the last three years (2004-2007); this percentage represents 52 students in the SLP M.S. graduate program!
2. Numbers of Students Passing the ETS exam: 100% during 2004-2007 (with 44 students reporting)!
3. Number of semesters to complete the program: 5 semesters with a CMD undergraduate degree and 7 without an undergraduate degree in CMD (semester count includes summers). Over the last three years, 93% of our students completed their degrees within these time frames. Note that by design we have a number of students who are completing their program on a part-time basis and these students make up the other 7%.

Student Complaint Procedure

Occasionally students may encounter a problem during the course of their program that they are not able to solve on their own. If this should occur, we strongly encourage students to meet face-to-face with their department advisor, the chair of the department or other departmental faculty, depending on their comfort level. Complaints are often mediated by the department chairperson and handled individually with the student and/or faculty members or at faculty meetings where action plans can be developed.

Because the University of Rhode Island does not have an ombudsperson, it is necessary for individual departments to develop plans for handling student complaints. If complaints are of a general nature (i.e., impacting curricular changes) they may be discussed at faculty meetings and retreats, and appropriate steps are taken to meet challenges to compliance with accreditation standards. Please note that at all times a student’s anonymity and confidentiality are preserved.

Department of Communicative Disorders’ Strategic Plan

Every three years, the Department of Communicative Disorders develops a strategic plan including the goals for the department over that time period. We update this link each year so that you can see our progress!

Important URI Graduate School Links

Students should become familiar with the URI Graduate School’s web site for two important reasons:

1. Access to important forms that you will need to complete during your program
2. Link to the Graduate School’s Calendar so that you can check to see when semesters begin and end, and when the important forms are due to the Graduate School

Graduate students should always double check with their faculty advisor regarding the due dates for the students’ Plan of Study, Plan of Study Revisions, and Nomination for Graduation. Your meeting with your faculty advisor each semester is an excellent time to check on this.

Comprehensive Examination Dates

Comprehensive examinations are offered each semester for students planning to graduate at the end of that particular semester. Typically, the exams are administered the second Friday in November for the fall semester and the Friday prior to the URI Spring Break (check the URI calendar). If students are planning to graduate during a summer session, please check with the CMD graduate program coordinator for the date of the exam.

Non-matriculating Graduate Students

Please be advised that the Department of Communicative Disorders handles the registration of non-matriculating graduate students in graduate-level courses somewhat differently than the URI Graduate School’s policy. Note that admission to all graduate courses requires graduate standing or permission of the instructor. Specifically, the instructor of the graduate course may decide whether registration is permitted to his or her course. If you currently are not a regularly admitted graduate student in CMD and you are interested in registering for a graduate course, you must contact the course instructor for permission to register. Graduate courses are purposely limited in size and our first priority is the education of students admitted to the M.S. program in Speech-Language Pathology.

Directed Essay Option

PURPOSE: As an alternative to the traditional comprehensive examination experience, the directed essay provides students with a capstone experience that promotes their academic development. At the same time, the directed essay is intended to provide faculty with additional support for increasing their own scholarly productivity.

STUDENT SELECTION: The directed essay option is not granted automatically upon student request. Instead, it is an option for those individuals who faculty believe will benefit the most from the opportunity, would have little difficulty passing the traditional comprehensive examination and thus will be good candidates for an alternative scholarly experience. Faculty will select students they consider to be strong academically and with whom they can develop a good interpersonal working relationship. In addition, supervising faculty members have the right to terminate the directed essay projects before their completion if they decide that the participating students are not making satisfactory progress. At this point, those students will be required to take the traditional comprehensive examination.

ESSAY TOPICS AND POTENTIAL PROJECTS: Faculty supervisors will meet with graduate students individually to develop topics of inquiry and to design experiences pertinent to exploring these topics of inquiry. The purpose is to construct an individualized, scholarly capstone experience that is mutually beneficial to the student and the supervising faculty member. Because the idea is to encourage a range of different capstone experiences that simultaneously fit the academic needs of students and supervising faculty, directed essay experiences may include, but are not limited to: (1) research projects that culminate in a written paper or publication; (2) scholarly projects that culminate in a student presentation at a local, state or national conference; and (3) scholarly reviews of the literature.
As part of the directed essay option, graduate students will be required to register for and successfully complete at least 3 credits of independent study (typically CMD 598) tied to their specific projects.

CMD’s Policy Regarding Accommodations for Individual Diversity

The Department of Communicative Disorders, in keeping with the 2008 Standards for Accreditation, recognizes the necessity of providing reasonable adaptations in curriculum, policies, and procedures to accommodate individual differences among students that may arise from cultural, linguistic, and other diversity. The department follows the policies of the URI Graduate School with regard to English proficiency where specific criteria must be met All other diversity issues are handled by a student¹s faculty advisor in consultation with the department chairperson, other departmental faculty, and personnel from the Disability Services for Students in the Office of Student Life, Division of Student Affairs.