In a historic first for Michigan State University, two faculty members in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders (CSD) have been selected in the same year to receive the Honors of the Association, the highest award bestowed by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).
CSD Department Chair and Professor Dimitar Deliyski, a pioneering researcher in voice and speech disorders, and Professor J. Scott Yaruss, an internationally recognized expert in speech-language pathology and stuttering, will be formally honored at ASHA’s annual convention on November 21 in Washington, D.C.
This recognition represents an extraordinarily rare instance in ASHA's history in which two faculty from the same department have received this distinguished award, underscoring the excellence and prestige of CSD scholarship at Michigan State. Deliyski and Yaruss join two other MSU scholars who have earned the award — Herbert J. Oyer (1980) and Ida Stockman (2006).
"My scientific career has been driven by a passion to improve the lives of people with voice disorders—developing new methods to refine diagnosis and treatment, and exploring the biomechanics and acoustics of the voice,” said Deliyski. “I never pursued awards and couldn't imagine how joyful it would feel to receive ASHA Honors, the highest recognition from peers I deeply respect. I’m truly thrilled!”
“My goal has always been to help speech-language pathologists feel more comfortable, confident, and competent in their work with people who stutter,” said Yaruss. “A key component of this effort has been to highlight the adverse impact that people who stutter may experience in their lives, as we work together to reduce that burden and improve their quality of life. I am grateful to my colleagues and to ASHA for this affirmation.”
“This is a proud and historic moment for ComArtSci, CSD, and the university,” said Dean Heidi Hennink-Kaminski. “The Honors of the Association recognize more than achievement — they reflect a legacy of leadership and impact. Drs. Deliyski and Yaruss have built distinguished careers that continue to shape and elevate their fields in meaningful ways and in service of the greater good — with true uncommon will."
The Honors of the Association is reserved for individuals whose distinguished contributions have shaped and significantly advanced the professions of speech-language pathology and audiology. Honorees are selected for a lifetime of groundbreaking work — whether in research, teaching, clinical practice, or advocacy — that has enhanced or altered the course of the professions.
About Dimitar Deliyski
A native of Bulgaria, Deliyski serves as chair of the CSD department and is a global authority in laryngeal imaging and vocal analysis. His career spans engineering and communication sciences, with a Ph.D. in Signal Processing from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and postdoctoral training at the University of Memphis. Before joining MSU, he held leadership and research roles at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, the University of Cincinnati, and the University of South Carolina.
Deliyski’s research has revolutionized how clinicians and scientists assess and understand voice disorders, with innovations in computer imaging of the vocal folds, acoustic voice analysis, and speech recognition methods. His work earned him the Manuel Garcia Prize at the World Congress of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics in 2010 and the Quintana Research Award of the Voice Foundation in 2017.
About J. Scott Yaruss
Yaruss, a professor in CSD and a board-certified fluency specialist, is internationally recognized for his work on the lived experience of stuttering. With more than 30 years of clinical experience and over 135 peer-reviewed publications (in addition to over 1,000 reviewed and invited presentations), Yaruss has dedicated his career to empowering speech-language pathologists and improving quality of life for people who stutter.
He co-developed the Overall Assessment of the Speaker’s Experience of Stuttering (OASES), a widely used tool to assess the impact of stuttering. His company, Stuttering Therapy Resources, has published numerous practical guides used by clinicians worldwide. At MSU, he leads the Spartan Stuttering Laboratory, where his NIH-funded research explores the variability of stuttering across contexts, and his NSF-funded research focuses on developing AI-based speech recognition tools that can understand stuttered speech.