HISTORY OF THE DEPARTMENT AND

TRAINING PROGRAM

The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders has grown and progressed continually since beginning in 1966 as a Division of Speech and Hearing in the Department of Speech and Theater. It was at that time that Godfrey E. Arnold, M.D., Donald McBryde, Ph.D., and James Mann, Ed.D. wrote a program development grant and received $20,000 from the United States Office of Education for faculty support and student stipends. Mr. Ralph Frybarger came from the directorship of the Speech and Hearing Clinic at Mississippi State College for Women to become the Director of the division, and Miss Gloria Dodwell Kellum came from Louisiana State University to become associate director. Five students were enrolled in the program, which was located in the Fine Arts Center.

By 1967 there were twenty-five baccalaureate students majoring in speech therapy. The designation for the major was either in special education with emphasis in speech therapy through the School of Education or in speech therapy with a minor in an area chosen by the student in the College of Liberal Arts.

In 1968, Dr. John Wingo replaced Mr. Frybarger as Chairman of the Speech and Hearing Division. The faculty included three full-time instructors and one part-time instructor. In addition to Dr. Wingo were Mr. Calvin Dubose, Mrs. Gloria Dodwell Kellum, and Mrs. Vicki Wingo. The year began with forty majors. In the spring, the location for the Speech and Hearing Center changed from the Fine Arts Center to the Reading Services Center in the Education Building where it remained for one year.