2006-07-24

Five school-based practitioners have each won $1,000 in support of their distance AuD education through the Phonak/AFA School-Based Scholarship program. Phonak, Warrenville, Ill, provided funding for this scholarship program with additional financial support offered by the Audiology Foundation of America (AFA), Lafayette, Ind. A total of 14 scholarships will be provided through this program.

“School-based practitioners play such a vital role in working with children at risk for hearing loss,” says AFA Director Esther Ginsberg. “Upgrading the education of these dedicated practitioners with an AuD degree will add tremendous value to the services they provide to students, families, and the community. We are so grateful to Cathy Jones and Phonak for their continuing support of this worthy project.”

The five scholarship winners are:

Casey Morehouse has been an educational audiologist at the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind, Staunton, Va, for almost 20 years. She began AuD classes this spring at Central Michigan University/Vanderbilt.

Virginia Schroeder has been an audiologist for nearly 25 years, and has been employed by Trenton Public Schools in Trenton, Mich, since 1999. She is pursuing her AuD from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry, School of Audiology.

Karen Mobley has been a pediatric audiologist for 10 years, and currently works for the Cobb County School System, Marietta, Ga. She began her AuD program this spring at the Arizona School of Health Sciences.

Suzanne Holowecky has been an educational audiologist for the Los Angeles Unified School District since 2001. She is pursuing her AuD from the Arizona School of Health Sciences.

Linda Dickson has more than 25 years of experience as an audiologist, and has been employed by Dearborn Public Schools in Michigan since 2003. She is an educational audiologist as well as a referral coordinator for hearing impaired programs in Western Wayne County. She began her AuD program at the University of Florida.

For more information about the AuD and the scholarship program, visit www.audfound.org.

[SOURCE: AFA, July 2006]