Degrees and Areas of Specialization
The department of communication sciences and disorders offers courses of study leading to the following graduate degrees:
- Master of Arts (MA),
- Doctor of Audiology (AuD), and
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).
Academic and clinical education are provided for students who wish to become professionally qualified to work with children and adults. Instructional areas include communication sciences, speech-language pathology, and clinical and rehabilitative audiology. A graduate program culminating in a master’s degree is required for professional certification as a speech-language pathologist for work in the public schools, hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation centers or private practice. A Doctor of Audiology degree (AuD) is required to practice as an audiologist. With an undergraduate preprofessional major, students typically can complete the master’s program in two years and the AuD in three years (including summers). The MA and AuD programs at WSU satisfy the minimum requirement for professional certification by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and for state licensure (in Kansas and beyond), and are accredited by the Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA) of ASHA. The PhD program prepares individuals to function professionally as independent researchers, teacher-scholars in an academic setting, or as program administrators.
Minimum Grade Requirement
Admission to courses is possible with a minimum grade of C (2.000 points per credit hour) in each stated prerequisite or its judged equivalent, or with departmental consent, unless otherwise specified in the course description.