Dr. Sadanand Singh Endowed Professorship in Speech and Language Sciences
Awarded to Dr. JoAnn Silkes of San Diego State University
As an acclaimed author, educator, and publisher, San Diego State University (SDSU) was fortunate to have recruited Dr. Sadanand Singh to serve as chair of its Department of Communicative Disorders, now the School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences (SLHS), in 1980. Dr. Singh contributed profoundly to the school, and to the disciplines of Speech and Hearing Sciences, over the course of many years. His insightful and caring nature have left an indelible imprint upon the school and all who knew him, and continue to influence our research, teaching, and academic success to this day.
As an academician and scholar, Dr. Singh gained the recognition of his colleagues and became a driving force to motivate future scientists in the field. In his lifetime, he contributed substantively to the science and practice of Speech and Language Sciences intervention. As an administrator, he led through personal example, whole-heartedly encouraging faculty development and student achievement. His leadership helped to position the School to expand our already high achieving graduate training programs. Our MA program in Speech-Language Pathology (MA SLP) and Doctor of Audiology (AuD) continue to rank #1 in California to this day. According to the latest U.S. News and World Report, both clinical programs are ranked highly when compared to similar programs across the nation; the MA SLP program is ranked 25th (out of 261) and the AuD program is ranked 29th. The National Research Council has ranked our SDSU/UCSD Joint Ph.D. program in Language and Communicative Disorders 7th in the nation.
In recognition of Dr. Singh’s major contributions to the disciplines of Speech and Language Sciences and to SDSU, an endowed professorship has been established to recruit nationally renowned scientists / research scholars to our campus. Recipients of the Sadanand Singh Endowed Professorship in Speech and Language Sciences will receive support over a three-year period that will help to augment their success in both research and teaching.
We are so pleased to have named Dr. JoAnn Silkes as the first awardee of the Sadanand Singh Endowed Professorship in Speech and Language Sciences, beginning in the 2020-21 Academic Year. Dr. Silkes is a wonderful embodiment of the intention behind this prestigious award due to her outstanding academic achievements and credentials in teaching, service, and scholarship. This professorship will help to ensure Dr. Silkes’ continued success in research and teaching at SDSU, and will support her to make her own enduring mark upon our campus, our students, and the disciplines of Speech and Language Sciences.
We are forever grateful to Dr. Singh and to his family for the numerous ways they have positively impacted faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the SDSU School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. This professorship is a powerful extension of Dr. Singh’s deep commitment to faculty and students, and will extend his legacy of excellence in research and teaching in perpetuity.
Tracy Love, Ph.D.
Director and Professor
School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
San Diego State University
JoAnn Silkes, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Biography
Dr. Silkes is a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist who received clinical training from the University of Wisconsin. While working in the field as a clinician, she found time to teach clinical graduate students at The College of New Jersey. She then began doctoral study and taught at Seton Hall University before obtaining her Ph.D. from the University of Washington under the mentorship of Dr. Margaret Rogers.
Dr. Silkes has strong funding and publication records. She was awarded a competitive pre-doctoral fellowship through an NIH T32 training grant at the University of Washington and then went on to receive a 3-year NIH NSRA F31 predoctoral fellowship from the National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders (NIDCD). After completing her Ph.D., she continued her research program as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Washington, supported by the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, conducting her research in the Department of Psychology, and maintaining her home base in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences. She remained at the University of Washington as a researcher and clinical instructor. At that time, she was awarded an NIH NIDCD R03 grant exploring “Masked Priming Treatment for Anomia”. Dr. Silkes is widely known in the field and has widespread collaborations. She has been a site PI for an NIDCD R01 “Translation and Clinical Implementation of a Test of Language and Short-term Memory (STM) in Aphasia” (PI: Nadine Martin, Temple University), has had a role on Dr. Gerasimos Fergadoitis’ R03 grant (Portland State University), “Assessment of Anomia: Improving Efficiency and Utility Using Item Response Theory”, and was funded by a VA RR&D grant awarded to Dr. Diane Kendall to write the manual for Phonomotor Therapy. Dr. Silkes is active in multiple national organizations such as the Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences and the American Speech-Language Hearing Association. She has also served as a reviewer for Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders / Plural Publishing Research Award grant applications
Dr. Silkes brings extensive experience as a new assistant professor. As a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Washington, she had almost a decade of experience teaching undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral level courses. She also mentored many students at various levels and served on a wide variety of departmental committees. This experience allows her to link theory, research, and clinical practice in many areas including her research and teaching.
Dr. Silkes’ research interests are in examining implicit language processing in people with aphasia, with a specific focus on the time course of lexical processing and retrieval, and using this information to improve aphasia treatment methods.
View the SDSU press release here.
Biography
Dr. Silkes is a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist who received clinical training from the University of Wisconsin. While working in the field as a clinician, she found time to teach clinical graduate students at The College of New Jersey. She then began doctoral study and taught at Seton Hall University before obtaining her Ph.D. from the University of Washington under the mentorship of Dr. Margaret Rogers.
Dr. Silkes has strong funding and publication records. She was awarded a competitive pre-doctoral fellowship through an NIH T32 training grant at the University of Washington and then went on to receive a 3-year NIH NSRA F31 predoctoral fellowship from the National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders (NIDCD). After completing her Ph.D., she continued her research program as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Washington, supported by the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, conducting her research in the Department of Psychology, and maintaining her home base in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences. She remained at the University of Washington as a researcher and clinical instructor. At that time, she was awarded an NIH NIDCD R03 grant exploring “Masked Priming Treatment for Anomia”. Dr. Silkes is widely known in the field and has widespread collaborations. She has been a site PI for an NIDCD R01 “Translation and Clinical Implementation of a Test of Language and Short-term Memory (STM) in Aphasia” (PI: Nadine Martin, Temple University), has had a role on Dr. Gerasimos Fergadoitis’ R03 grant (Portland State University), “Assessment of Anomia: Improving Efficiency and Utility Using Item Response Theory”, and was funded by a VA RR&D grant awarded to Dr. Diane Kendall to write the manual for Phonomotor Therapy. Dr. Silkes is active in multiple national organizations such as the Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders and Sciences and the American Speech-Language Hearing Association. She has also served as a reviewer for Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders / Plural Publishing Research Award grant applications
Dr. Silkes brings extensive experience as a new assistant professor. As a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Washington, she had almost a decade of experience teaching undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral level courses. She also mentored many students at various levels and served on a wide variety of departmental committees. This experience allows her to link theory, research, and clinical practice in many areas including her research and teaching.
Dr. Silkes’ research interests are in examining implicit language processing in people with aphasia, with a specific focus on the time course of lexical processing and retrieval, and using this information to improve aphasia treatment methods.