The mission of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders is to provide students with an innovative, high-quality education that integrates a foundation of theoretical and empirical information with state of the art clinical services; that promotes critical thinking and problem solving skills central to clinical practice and scholarly activities; that engages in cross-disciplinary scholarly activity, research, and collaborations that enhance the theoretical and applied knowledge in the fields of speech, language and hearing sciences, speech-language pathology, and theoretical linguistics; and provides service to the university, the professions and the community that reflects a commitment to ethics and respect for a diverse society.

Individuals who wish to provide input about a program seeking candidacy or initial accreditation or about a CAA-accredited program seeking continued accreditation may do so in two ways:

1. Submit written comments prior to the accreditation site visit. All comments are due in the Accreditation Office no later than three (3) business days before the first day of the scheduled site visit. Comments received after this time will not be forwarded to the site visit team for consideration during the accreditation review, in accordance with the procedures specified in Chapter XII of the Accreditation Handbook. Comments may be submitted by email ([click-for-email]), fax (301-296-8570), or mailed to Accreditation Public Comment, Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CAA), 2200 Research Boulevard, #310, Rockville, MD 20850.
2. Provide comments to the site visit team during the program’s scheduled site visit, such as during the public meeting.

All comments must:

• Relate to a program’s compliance with the current Standards for Accreditation
• Identify the specific program seeking candidacy, initial accreditation, or continued accreditation with the CAA
• All written testimony—including comments faxed or submitted as email attachments—must include the commenter’s name, address, telephone contact information, and the commenter’s relationship to the program in order for Accreditation staff to verify the source of the testimony. All comments must be signed.

Comments that do not meet these requirements will not be considered, and the individual or group commenting will be notified.

The Standards for Accreditation and the CAA’s Public Comment policy and procedures are available in the Accreditation Handbook. These documents may also be obtained by sending a written request to the Accreditation Office.