Opportunities, Achievements, and Testimonials

The Speech-Language Hearing Center at Misericordia University is a comprehensive facility serving the residents of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Located on the second floor in John J. Passan Hall, the center provides complete diagnostic and speech, language, and hearing services for children, adolescents, adults and elderly with communication disorders.

Communication problems can occur for a variety of reasons. Some people are born with communication disorders; others develop speech and language difficulties or hearing loss after a severe illness, disease, or as the result of an accident. Many individuals can overcome these challenges with special intervention and treatment. These services are provided by undergraduate and graduate student clinicians working toward their master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology at Misericordia University. The clinicians evaluate and treat clients under the direct supervision of faculty and staff certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and licensed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

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Speakers Series at Misericordia University

The Speech-Language Pathology Distinguished Speaker Series at Misericordia University invites distinguished educators, leaders, and nationally acclaimed experts in the field of Communication Sciences and Disorders and related disciplines to conduct workshops on campus. The events are held throughout the year and are open to professionals and the public.

ASHA Graduate Student Scholarship

Cara Imbalzano - 2019
Midori Rodriguez - 2013
Nicholas Barone - 2011

ASHA Students Preparing for Academic-Research Careers (SPARC) Award

Stephanie Fazio - 2023

PSHA NSSLHA Chapter Honors - 2011, 2012, 2015-19

NSSLHA National Chapter Honors - 2007

NSSLHA National Bronze Chapter Status - 2010

NSSLHA National Silver Chapter Status - 2012

NSSLHA National Gold Chapter Status - 2019

PSHA NSSLHA Student Membership Award - 2008 -2016

PSHA Von Drach Memorial Scholarship - awarded to one student in Pennsylvania for Outstanding Academic Achievement:

• Quinn Kelley (2022)
• Jillian Scanlon (2021)
• Cara Imbalzano (2020)
• Danielle Spagnuolo (2019)
• Samantha Buldo (2018)
• Abriel McCann (2017)
• Tia Spagnuolo (2016)
• Midori Rodriguez (2014)
• Mary Gulotta (2013)
• Maria Kidron (2012)
• Nicholas Barone (2011)
• Kaitlyn Frey (2010)
• Laura Bauman (2009)
• Katrina Emerick (2008)

NESHAP Undergraduate Scholarship Award

• Alana Talvacchia (2020)
• Jenna Reed (2019)
• Danielle Spagnuolo (2017)
• Samantha Buldo (2016)
• Molly Correl (2010)

Doctoral Students/Doctoral Candidates/Ph.D.s

D'manda Price, M.S., CCC-SLP
Doctoral Student - New York University
'19 M.S., Speech-Language Pathology, Misericordia University

Ryan Burdick, M.S., CCC-SLP
Doctoral Student—University of Wisconsin-Madison
'16 M.S., Speech-Language Pathology, Misericordia University

Erin Roberts, M.S., CCC-SLP
Doctoral Student—Johns Hopkins University
'16 M.S., Speech-Language Pathology, Misericordia University

Tia Spagnuolo, M.S., CCC-SLP
Doctoral Student—Binghamton University
'16 M.S., Speech-Language Pathology, Misericordia University

Kearston Healey, M.S., CCC-SLP
Doctoral Student-Boise State University 
'13 M.S., Speech-Language Pathology, Misericordia University

Jonelle Dickson-Prokopchak, M.S., CCC-SLP
Doctoral Student - Binghamton University
'09 M.S., Speech-Language Pathology, Misericordia University

Kaitlyn (Frey) Clarke, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
'21 Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University
'11 M.S., Speech-Language Pathology, Misericordia University

Carly Jo Hosbach-Cannon, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
'16 Ph.D., Syracuse University
'09 M.S., Speech-Language Pathology, Misericordia University

Nicholas Barone, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
'15 Ph.D., James Madison University
'12 M.S., Speech-Language Pathology, Misericordia University

Erik Raj, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
'15 Ph.D., Wayne State University
'09 M.S., Speech-Language Pathology, Misericordia University

Jessica Sofranko Kisenwether, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
'12 Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University
'07 M.S., Speech-Language Pathology, Misericordia University

Chapter Co-Leaders Cara Imbalzano and Ashley Johnson

Stuttering Group Support Page

About the Support Group

• Meets monthly
• This support group is for persons who stutter – teenagers and adults.
• The group discusses speech, struggles with speech, or anything in general. This is all done in a comfortable environment in the Speech-Language and Hearing Center.
• Stuttering support groups help people who stutter become confident, practice speaking in a relaxed environment with others who stutter, and discover new ways and strategies to cope with stuttering.

How did it all begin?
Terrence Murgallis, Speech-Language Pathology graduate student, began coming to the Misericordia University Speech-Language and Hearing Clinic for speech therapy when he was in high school. He says it was the first time he had ever spoken to another person who stuttered. He is one of the organizers behind the expansion of the support group. “It is great to be able to talk about my stuttering in an environment where people understand," Murgallis says. “It gives me peace of mind to know that I am not the only one facing this type of challenge."

Meetings

• Friendly and informal.
• Meetings are the third Sunday of every other month with time and location TBA. If you would like to receive notifications about the time and location of meetings, please email stutteringsupport@misericordia.edu to be added to our mailing list.
• Adolescences and adults are currently part of the group.

For further information regarding the Misericordia University Stuttering Support Group, email: stutteringsupport@misericordia.edu

National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association (NSSLHA)

The National Student Speech-Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA) is the student arm of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Membership in NSSLHA is open to any student who has an interest in communication sciences and disorders. ASHA has special incentive programs for students who remain NSSLHA members throughout their studies. NSSLHA members also receive a discount in the registration fee to the Annual Convention of the association, and receive several of the publications that are made available to full ASHA members.

Most professional university programs in communication sciences and disorders have their own local chapters of NSSLHA. The Speech-Language Pathology department's NSSLHA chapter was chartered in the Spring 2004 semester.

All speech-language pathology majors are encouraged to become active members of the NSSLHA chapter.

Accomplishments achieved during the 2013-2014 academic year.

Service Events:

• Martin Luther King Jr. service day on Misericordia's campus
• American Cancer Society's "Making Strides against Breast Cancer" walk
• Color Mania run in Scranton, PA Created a NSSLHA team for Misericordia's Relay for Life
• Collected and cleaned used toys to be donated
• Head Start of Luzerne County Inservice on Phonological Awareness
• Head Start of Luzerne County Inservice on Literacy
• Back Mountain Library Story Hour
• Apple Tree Teacher Inservice on Spelling
• West Pittston Library Story Hour (2-5 year olds)
• Back Mountain Library Parent Workshop on Language
• Wyoming Seminary Teacher's Inservice ontest Evidence in Spelling Approaches.
• Story Hour with Adventures in Learning (4-5 year olds)
• Story Hour with Adventures in Learning (infants-4 years)
• Adopted a family through the Catherine McAuley Center in Scranton, PA to provide a family with Christmas items from a given wish list
• Wrote letters to soldiers for "Holiday Mail for Heroes" in Capitol Heights, MD
• Provided holiday crafts to members of the Mercy Center, a geriatric care management center on Misericordia's campus
• First Annual 5K Run/Walk: Don't Tell Me to Slow Down to benefit the National Stuttering Association (NSA)

Fundraising:

• Donated $150 to Allied Services in Scranton, PA, where funds were used to benefit Ryan's Run, a marathon run in New York City that benefits children and
• Donated $250 to the 2013-2014 NSSLHA Loves Campaign, "Small Steps in Speech," to help provide funds and awareness for those living with communication disorders.

Accomplishments achieved during the 2012-2013 academic year.

Service Events:

• Participated in the Livestrong Run/Walk 5K, Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, and Bradley's Buddies Run/Walk 5K. All supported cancer research.
• Participated in Misericordia University's Physician's Assistant Run/Walk 5K.
• Created 60 construction paper pumpkins and 60 Christmas/holiday cards as a donation to the community and passed them out to each individual of the Mercy Center nursing home in Dallas, PA for the Halloween and Christmas seasons.
• Educated peers on stuttering and cluttering by handing out educational packets and playing a video for National Stuttering Awareness Day.
• Donated 10 shoeboxes filled with presents to Operation Christmas Child.
• Donated 40 pounds of non-perishable food to HJ Weinberg NEPA Food bank for the holiday season.
• Raised $300 as a donation to Catherine McCauley House "Adopt-a-family" for the holiday season.
• Assisted with story hour at the Back Mountain Library in Dallas by reading to children and educating parents on phonological awareness.
• Assisted with story hour at the West Pittston Library by reading to the children and educating parents about warning signs of difficulties with literacy.
• Educated parents about normal speech and language development at Back Mountain Library in Dallas, PA.
• Created a NSSLHA team for Relay for Life at Misericordia University.
• Participated in awareness days for Cerebral Palsy and Down Syndrome on campus.
• Participated in a pen pal activity with learning support classes from local schools.
• Held a movie night and watched "Up Syndrome" to promote Down Syndrome Awareness.

Fundraising:

• Make-A-Wish Foundation, $100
• Operation smile, $580
• Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDM), $100
• Autism Society of America, $100
• American Cancer Society, $100
• Alzheimer's Association, $200
• UNICEF, $100
• Victims Resource Center, $100
• A $100 donation was presented to Dan Bombay for generously speaking at Misericordia University.
• ASHA Annual Giving Campaign, $200
• A $600 donation was made to SLP graduate students (for travel expenses) who presented in Paris at the International Fluency Conference.

Accomplishments achieved during the 2011-2012 academic year.

Service Events:

• Created and delivered Holiday Cards to residents at the Meadows Nursing Home Dallas, PA.
• Collected and filled 28 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.
• Donated 81 books, 15 movies to the Schenk Memorial Library in Noxen, PA.
• Participated in Andy Gavin's Green Ridge Mile to benefit United Cerebral Palsy.
• Members, under the direct supervision of a faculty member, presented a workshop on auditory processing, language, and literacy at Wyoming Seminary-Lower School.

Fundraising:

• Operation Smile to cover a reconstructive surgery $240.00.
• Rotary Club of Bombay Central to support a rainwater harvesting project in India $1000.00.
• John Heinz Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine $300.00.
• Ruth's Place Shelter $25.00 for the annual walk-a-thon.
• 2012 NSSLHA Loves Campaign $250.00.

Accomplishments achieved during the 2010-2011 academic year.

Service Events:

• Raised money, made, and donated 100 blankets to Dr. Collini, a plastic surgeon, who distributed them to children in Ecuador following facial reconstructive surgery.
• Donated hygiene supplies, linens, clothing, and $60 to Orphan Grain Train, an organization that provides food and necessities to those affected by the earthquakes in Haiti.
• Donated $240.00 and participated in a local Apraxia Walk for Apraxia research.

Fundraising:

• Raised $1,160 selling candy for the 2011 Memory Walk instituted to remember loved ones who suffered with Alzheimer's.
• Contributed $200 to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation 2010 Annual Giving Campaign.
• Raised $200 selling tickets for a pasta dinner and collected donations for a Speech-Language Pathology alumnus who was battling cancer.

Links

ASHA Website
Council on Academic Accreditation (CAA) in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology