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By Kate Hunger

The School of Health Professions welcomed the director of its new Master Science in Speech-Language Pathology program on June 1.

Fang-ling Lu, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, comes to the Íø±¬³Ô¹Ï School of Health Professions from the University of North Texas, where she joined the faculty in the Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology in 1997. While at UNT, Dr. Lu served as director of graduate studies for 12 years cumulatively. 

Dr. Lu said she is excited by the challenge of creating a new program, particularly one that is committed to offering a medical concentration, which she noted is currently offered by none of the 17 master's programs in speech-language pathology in Texas. The School's program will help meet the need for qualified speech therapists in a medical setting., she said. 

"There is a great need there," she said. "We need the professions to have more training in medical."

Faculty recruitment is underway for the program, which Lu said will benefit from strong support at the School of Health Professions. 

"Here I see there are no limits - the resources, the personnel and the support," she said. "Everybody's so excited about having this program built up here. It's tremendously helpful."

The two-year, five-semester MS-SLP program has received a Level One approval from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's (ASHA) Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. Student enrollment will not begin until accreditation is awarded, and the School expects to learn more about the program's accreditation status in July.