Michigan State University will host the Michigan Speech-Language-Hearing Association (MSHA) Annual Conference from March 21-23, 2019 at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in East Lansing, Mich.
The conference will feature outstanding professionals from MSU’s Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders and many other speakers from around Michigan who are experts in their fields. More than 600 speech-language pathologists will gather for three days of educational classes, meetings and receptions. An awards ceremony will also be held to honor outstanding clinicians and leaders in the field, as well as exemplary students just entering the profession.
MSHA will bestow its highest honor, the 2019 Honors of the Association, on Heather L. Balog, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, from the Balog Speech and Language Center in Plymouth, Mich. The award will be presented at the awards luncheon on Friday, March 22, 2019. During the luncheon, MSU Professor Peter LaPine, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, will receive the MSHA Distinguished Service Award for his work with students on humanitarian and service projects around the world. A reception with MSU's Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders will follow in the evening.
During the conference, MSHA President and MSU Alumna Lisa L. Register, M.A., CCC-SLP, will also welcome the incoming president of the organization, Spartan Gregory J. Spray, M.A., CCC-SLP, who is a doctoral student at Michigan State University graduating with his Ph.D. in the summer.
MSHA began in 1939, celebrating 80 years as a state association—one of the oldest in the country. MSHA is based in East Lansing, close to the state capital. The meeting here, to commemorate the organization’s 80th anniversary, will bring the celebration full circle.
Conference highlights include speakers from around the country who are experts in their fields such as:
- Shari Robertson, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, current President of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and a Michigan native, who will speak on Literacy
- Erik X. Raj, Ph.D., CCC-SLP from Monmouth University in New Jersey who will address new techniques and therapies in the public school settings
- Ed Bice, M.Ed., CCC-SLP, from Accelerated Care Plus in Virginia, who will speak about the swallowing disorder Dysphagia
- MSHA’s President-Elect, Gregory J. Spray, M.A., CCC-SLP, an MSU doctoral student
Many presenters from other universities, clinical and private practice settings around Michigan will speak on topics which address every communication impairment that affects Michigan citizens.
The MSHA Conference also provides undergraduate and graduate students from across Michigan with the opportunity to network, learn and work alongside their professional counterparts. Students are an important part of this conference, representing the future of the profession. Six graduate students will receive scholarships from the MSHA Foundation (MSHF), which is the charitable-giving extension of MSHA, during the MSHA conference at the awards banquet on Friday.
For more information about the conference, visit www.michiganspeechhearing.org.