Home > Academics > Graduate Degrees & Certificates > Speech Language Pathology > Executive Summary

MS in Speech-Language Pathology Executive Summary

The following is the executive summary of the 2023-2028 strategic plan for the Minnesota State University Moorhead Speech Language Hearing Sciences department, which includes the accredited Speech-Language Pathology Masters of Science graduate program and the Speech Language Hearing Sciences Bachelors of Science undergraduate program. During our annual strategic planning retreat, the program reviewed assessment data and revised long-term and short-term goals. Objectives for 2023-2028 were updated at subsequent department meetings. The purpose of these meetings is to do the following:

Align department’s goals with the university’s strategic priorities,
Meet the mission and vision of the department, and thus,
Continue to meet the standards of the Council for Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CAA) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association for the accredited Master of Science degree education program in speech-language pathology.

Summary of the Long-Term Goals

Student Achievement

Two strategies of the university are to focus on student achievement/students’ return on their investment and to be indispensable to the region. These priorities align with the mission and vision of the department to recruit and retain high-quality students, to provide high-quality rigorous courses, clinical experiences, and faculty-mentored research opportunities. Also, the program’s mission, vision, and program objectives are to meet the regional workforce needs of the area and to serve the region through the MSUM Speech-Language & Hearing Clinic by providing state-of-the-art assessments, interventions, technologies, and resources. Several long-term goals focus on these areas.

One of the program’s long-term goals is to recruit and retain high quality students by offering state-of-the-art education in academic and clinical settings (on- and off-campus) with current resources. Some objectives related to this goal include successfully running the Regional Assistive Technology Center, upgrading iPads for student clinicians, purchasing necessary clinical equipment, and upgrading clinical materials. Technology and materials are used in the classroom and in the clinic to serve the needs of the students and the clients.
Another long-term goal involves providing direct clinic serves to our community via on-campus services and teletherapy. We also partner with Red Lake Schools to provide teletherapy services.

Diversity and Inclusion

Another priority of the university is “to build our organizational capacity to achieve equitable educational outcomes for all students, recognizing that achieving equity will require changing our systems, policies, practices, assumptions, and campus climate”. To address this priority, the department has several long-term goals and annual objectives.

One long-term goal is to recruit and support students from underrepresented groups at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Objectives to meet this goal include promoting the program and associated profession to regional high schools with diverse student populations. In addition, the program has added a designated departmental scholarship (Gregory Lof endowed scholarship) for a student from an underrepresented group.
To address our mission of serving individuals affected by communication disorders in a diverse society, our clinic provides a variety of community screenings and direct service delivery on campus.
To expand our students’ knowledge and experiences surrounding cultural responsiveness, we continue to collaborate between departments in our college for interdepartmental study abroad opportunities, in addition to exploring shared course experiences to integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion for SLHS undergraduate and SLP graduate students.

Community Development/Engagement

Long-term goals related to community partnerships and collaborations also align with the university’s priorities of focusing on student achievement and being indispensable to the region. These goals focus on strategically planning the opportunities for students to be active in the community and to collaborate with students and professionals in related professions.

The SLHS clinic strategically plans off-campus screenings and service-learning experiences to foster skill development and serve our community members. This goal includes collaborations with Community of Care Casselton, Fargo, West Fargo, and Moorhead schools for annual Screenings and the Big Iron farming event for Hearing screenings.
One long-term goal is to foster relationships and collaboration with organizations outside of MSUM. This provides opportunities for students, to serve the community/region, and share knowledge and skills with community professionals. A few annual goals include inviting local professionals in our fields to be guest speakers in our courses, providing speech/language and hearing evaluations at the North Dakota Department of Health’s Cleft Palate Clinic in Fargo, maintaining collaboration with FM Sertoma, serving as a host for the Moorhead local Chapter of the National Stuttering Association, engaging in service activities via NSSLHA/Collegiate Sertoma (e.g., FM Special Needs Support Network, Arc of MN) and the collaboration with the University of North Dakota’s Communication Disorders program to provide the annual spring symposium.
Our Regional Assistive Technology Center (RATC) center has a STAR grant to provide assistive technology demonstrations and loans to SLPs and families in Minnesota. We also collaborate as needed with the ALS foundation and area hospitals (Sanford, Essentia) for training and consultation on assistive technology for communication.