Message from Sherry Sancibrian
2008 ASHA Convention Co-Chair
Set in the bustling Windy City, the 2008 ASHA Annual Convention will offer attendees an opportunity for "Celebrating the Winds of Change." ASHA members have many changes to celebrate in 2008: a beautiful new professional home at 2200 Research Boulevard, a new governance structure, and the new vision and mission statements which emerged as part of the "balanced scorecard" approach to strategic planning, just to name a few.
The 2008 Speech-Language Pathology program will also be celebrating some changes this year. Recognizing its emergence as a significant practice area, the program committee members decided to create a separate topic area for autism spectrum disorders. The committee has also updated titles and descriptors for the other topic areas to reflect current practice. Topics that formerly appeared in the General Interest category, such as academic issues or hearing loss in children, will now be listed under both speech-language pathology and audiology. Finally, the convention will be housed in the sparkling new McCormick Place West Building, which opened only a few months ago.
In keeping with our theme, I encourage members to submit proposals that highlight the changes our profession has seen in recent years. Some of the factors transforming the profession of speech-language pathology include: the increasing breadth and depth of our scope of practice; the demand for evidence-based practice; expanding practice niches; technological advances; emerging practice settings and services; the increasing diversity of America's population; and continuing changes in our nation's healthcare and educational systems.
Inertia may be comfortable, but change can be energizing! Come celebrate with your colleagues on the shore of Lake Michigan November 20-22, 2008. Spend the day learning, then take advantage of the many options Chicago has to offer—French cuisine or deep dish pizza, blues or jazz, museums or shopping on the Magnificent Mile.
This page was updated on: 7/15/2008.