Dr. Ann van Kleeck

Dr. Anne van Kleeck

Less than one-tenth of a percent of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association members receive a Fellowship of the Association, but UT Dallas now has six of these fellows. Dr. Anne van Kleeck, professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, was the latest to receive the honor at the recent ASHA conference in Chicago.

“ASHA is the national association for professionals in speech, language and hearing sciences and pathology,” said Donise Pearson, 2013 ASHA Convention program co-chair and director of clinical operations at the Callier Center for Communication Disorders. “ASHA represents over 166,000 audiologists, speech pathologists, scientists, support personnel and students in our mission to make effective communication accessible and achievable for all.”

Van Kleeck has devoted more than 35 years to studying children’s language development with a focus on preschool foundations for later literacy and  cultural differences in parent-child interaction. She has published 69 books, journal articles and book chapters, and has given more than 200 presentations on four continents on the topic.

“ASHA Fellowship is one of the highest honors the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association bestows,” said Dr. Thomas Campbell, Ludwig A. Michael, MD, Callier Center Executive Director and Sara T. Martineau Professor, and ASHFoundation trustee. “To be awarded fellow, the nominee must have made outstanding contributions to the discipline of communication sciences and disorders. Dr. van Kleeck's exceptional research and service to the association makes her an obvious choice to receive this award.” 

Other ASHA Fellows of the Association at UT Dallas include Drs. Thomas Campbell, Christine Dollaghan, Donise Pearson, Ross Roeser and Emily Tobey.