Speech-Language Pathology
2024 – 2028 Strategic Plan

The Department of Speech-Language Pathology in the School of Health Professions at Stony Brook University is proud to unveil its 2024-2028 strategic plan designed to propel its master’s program to exceptional heights of excellence. In alignment with the school’s and university's overarching visions, our strategic plan embodies our commitment to excellence and innovation in Speech-Language Pathology education and practice.  By creating clear goals and objectives, the department aims to meet current challenges and anticipate and shape future trends in the field.

Mission

The mission of the Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology program is to prepare exceptional speech-language pathologists committed to positively influencing their communities through service, ethical and evidence-based practices, advocacy, and scholarship.

Strategic Priority I - Program Education Delivery

Goal I.1 – Growth | Growth by improving access, quality-reputation, and best-in-class education

Objective 1 – Quality: Advance outstanding national quality rankings

• Tactic - The SLP department will uphold the highest educational standards of its program to gain initial accreditation status with CAA

Objective 2 - World-class: Grow our educational offerings

• Tactic - The SLP department will incorporate experiential learning opportunities, e.g. research projects, simulation-based learning, service learning to increase their practical skills and real-world applications.

Goal I.2 - Student Engagement | Defining opportunities to increase student engagement

Objective 1 - Support initiatives that increase student retention

• Tactic - Student participation in SLPeers program
• Tactic - Students are required to complete NSSLHA and Department service hours.
• Tactic - The SLP department provides special events and initiatives for students to build a network of contacts in the profession.
• Tactic - The SLP department will establish an Alumni-Student  Mentoring program to facilitate knowledge, skills and professional networking.

Goal I.3 - Innovative Learning Opportunities | Supporting and Advancing Educational Development

Objective 1 - Deliver education model that achieves optimal outcomes

• Tactic - The SLP department will meet or exceed standard pass rates for the PRAXIS exam based on accreditation requirements
• Tactic - SLP department will meet or exceed program completion rates based on accreditation requirements

Objective 2 - Continuous program assessment

• Tactic - The SLP department will engage in programmatic qualitative and quantitative assessment of student outcome data, e.g. supervisor feedback and surveys, adjunct faculty, alumni, and graduate student surveys, and student course evaluations.

Objective 3 - Develop and implement interprofessional practice experiences with faculty/students in other allied-health programs in the School of Health Professions, School of Medicine, School of Dental Medicine, and the School of Nursing.

• Tactic - Faculty and students will engage in clinical simulations/IPE events with faculty and students from the SHP, School of Nursing, School of Medicine and the School of Dental Medicine.

Strategic Priority II - Program Workforce and Culture

Goal II.1 - High-performance and inclusive environment | Recruit, develop, and retain an exceptional workforce.

Objective 1 - Support faculty to achieve excellence in service, scholarship and teaching.

• Tactic - The SLP department will ensure faculty obligations are balanced for scholarship, teaching, service, advising, supervision and student mentoring of research projects in order to achieve this strategy.
• Tactic - The SLP department will support faculty presentation of research at regional, state, or national conferences.

Objective 2 - Provide mentorship to junior faculty in the areas of scholarship, teaching and service

• Tactic - The SLP chair will meet with faculty to monitor and support their growth in scholarship, teaching and service.
• Tactic - The SLP department will support the participation of faculty in the SHP mentoring program.

Objective 3 - Create a diverse and inclusive culture that values and leverages the unique perspectives, backgrounds, and talents of all individuals

• Tactic - The SLP department will actively recruit a diverse student body to better reflect our patients and clients.
• Tactic - The SLP department will implement strategies to improve the retention rate of students from diverse backgrounds.
• Tactic - The SLP department will develop a curriculum which addresses cultural competence.

Strategic Priority III - Program Research

Goal III.1 - Innovative Scholarship | Promote and expand interdisciplinary scholarship initiatives

Objective 1 - Support faculty intra and inter-disciplinary research collaboration

• Tactic - The SLP department will support faculty participation in interprofessional scholarship.

Objective 2 - Foster student research

• Tactic - Students will complete a capstone project collaboratively with a minimum of one student from another healthcare program in SHP.

Strategic Priority IV - Program Resources

Goal IV.1 Enterprise Excellence | Support and advance excellence through allocation of resources

Objective 1 - Achieve SLP strategies through increased revenue

• Tactic - The SLP department will develop strategic corporate partnerships to increase revenue.

Objective 2 - Advancement | Support advancement opportunities to increase philanthropy

• Tactic - The SLP department will create and implement strategies for successful advancement and development opportunities by facilitating philanthropic relationships with potential donors, corporate partners, and alumni including major gifts, students scholarships, endowments, and funding of major projects
• Tactic - The SLP department will identify alumni-based initiatives for implementation.

Objective 3 - Reputation | Optimize marketing and communications initiatives to support SLP awareness and engagement

• Tactic - The SLP department will continue to grow its social media presence on additional platforms for maximum exposure
• Tactic - The SLP department will increase awareness of the profession.

Strategic Priority V - Program Community and Partnerships

Goal V.1 Expansion of Strategic Partnerships | Expand and advance internal and external partnerships to strengthen community connections and affiliate relationships

Objective 1 - Affiliations: Develop and expand partnerships with internal and external affiliates

• Tactic - The SLP department will increase external partnerships to facilitate student acquisition of diverse learning experiences.
• Tactic - The SLP department will collaborate with our partners in Southampton and Stony Brook Hospital to increase student knowledge, skills, and competencies.

Objective 2 - Community engagement: Support and strengthen partnerships with community members and agencies to promote health and wellness awareness and services

• Tactic - The SLP department will support community engagement events, healthcare screenings, and services to underrepresented areas.