IU facility integrated into
Purdue program
By Anna Herkamp
Summer
Reporter
A new doctorate degree in the School of Liberal
Arts will offer students experience from two separate University settings.
The new Doctorate of Audiology is a degree the
school of Audiology and Speech Sciences is in the process of being added
to the already existing Audiology Ph.D. The new degree will allow students
clinical experience while they work at Indiana University's medical
center in Indianapolis.
"The degree will offer some of the strongest resources
from Purdue and Indiana University. Students will get experience working
with patients while doing research to solve problems in the field of
Audiology," said Robert Novak, clinical professor of Audiology and Speech
Sciences.
"Students won't have to go outside the state to
finish all degree aspects," he said.
The difference between the work done for the new
degree and what medical doctors in Otolaryngology do is that the doctorate
students will not do any "medical" work with patients. Audiology is
the study of hearing and hearing disorders. Audiologists study and assess
non-medical related problems in people of any age. Most patients are
young children or elderly adults who have either lost or have hearing
disorders.
The treatment the new degree will allow students
to do include non-surgical treatment such as hearing aids and programming
cochlear implants. Cochlear implants are a type of treatment that places
programmed electrodes in the inner in order to help the inner ear function
properly.
This program is the first program of its kind to
collaborate with another University's medical center, said Novak. It
is the only doctorate degree in the country done jointly with a medical
center, he said. It is also the first Audiology Doctorate in any Big
Ten school.
The program is in an especially practical place
because Indiana is an "aging" state, said Novak. There is a large population
of elderly adults who need special treatment for hearing loss.
Elizabeth Strickland, associate professor of Audiology
and Speech Sciences, said Indiana is in need of skilled people who can
perform all the tests needed to assess infant hearing in the hospitals.
There is also a new emphasis on the hearing of school-age children,
she said.
At the present time, the doctorate is still in
the making. In order for a doctorate degree to be put into a school,
it has to be approved by the Indiana Commission for higher education.
The School of Audiology and Speech Sciences and the Dean of the School
of Liberal Arts have already approved the program. Vice President of
Academic affairs, Robert Ringel, is in the process of evaluating the
curriculum. After Dr. Ringel, the program will be submitted to the Board
of Trustees in July. After the board, it will be submitted to the Indiana
Commission for higher education.
The reason for the creation of the new doctorate
degree is that the Audiology profession has shifted such that more than
a master's degree is needed to adequately prepare audiologists for the
scope of practice, said Novak.
The degree will take four years for post-bachelor
work and two years for post-master's work.
Another aspect of the degree is that it will be
integrated into the University's EPICS (Engineering Projects in Community
Service) program. The program is a valuable way for students of different
academic backgrounds at the University to come together in groups and
work on a problem, said Novak.
Students from a variety of schools including Liberal
Arts, Technology and Engineering participate and work together to solve
problems from local community partners. The groups find practical applications
and technology to solve real life problems in hearing loss, said Novak.
|
