President

Mary Ruth Sizer

Boone, NC

Past-President

Lisa McDonald

Greensboro, NC

Lisa received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Speech Language Pathology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is currently a speech-language pathologist for Guilford County Schools and has been based at General Greene Elementary Magnet School of Science & Technology for the past 8 years. Lisa has served on the Convention Committee working with the exhibitors in 2004 & 2005 and as the chair for the 2006 Convention. She was awarded the 2006 NCSHLA Public Information Award for her involvement with sound field classroom amplification systems for her school. Lisa is looking forward to her continued involvement with NCSHLA.

President-Elect

Elizabeth Burns, CCC, SLP

Carbaro, NC

Secretary

Shawna Pearce

Raleigh, NC

Member-at-Large

Heather Clark

Boone, NC

Dr. Clark teaches at Appalachian State University in Boone. In addition to teaching courses, she conducts research related to normal and disordered motor control for speech and swallowing. A member of NCSHLA for more than ten years, she has served the membership by offering short courses and sessions at conventions and co-chairing the fall conference. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking and running, tennis, and crocheting.

Member-at-Large

Louise Raleigh

Member-at-Large

Wayne Foster

Browne Summit, NC

Member-at-Large

Barbara Gerhard

Winston-Salem, NC

Member-at-Large

Susan Chapman

Membership Chair

Donna Brown

Ms. Brown is currently the CD Program Coordinator at Appalachian State University and Professor of Clinical Education. She has held various positions over the years with NCSHLA, including Convention Chair, President, and work on various committees with the association. Work setting: In additional to her NCSHLA involvement, Ms. Brown is also currently serving on the Convention committee and am President of NCASSPA. She received Honors of the Association in 2000.

Nominations Chair

Cindy Davis Ling

Education & Public Information Chair

Donna Richmond

Durham, NC

Ms. Donna" (as many of her students call her) has been working in the public school system for over 23 years. She started her career working in school systems in Kentucky and was an active member of the Kentucky Speech-Language Association, her last job being Region 1 Public Schools chairperson until 1998. In that year, she (and her husband and toddler son) decided that they needed a change and she had advice from her cousin (who lives in Raleigh) that NC was the place to come. Boy, was she right! Ms. Richmond has taken on yet another active role for NCSHLA: chairperson of the 2004 Fall Conference, spring convention committees and chairperson of the Education committee. "I have seen many changes in our profession since entering the field and where our profession is now is great with the expansion of the technology world and publications of ASHA to maintain/increase current knowledge (and of course to obtain CEU'S for licenses at the state and national level." She is recognized in her current work setting (Orange County Schools) as a "go-getter" She also serves as a practicum supervisor for UNC-CH and as a mentor.
She lives in Durham with her husband David who is a network IT security manager for Fujitsu and her children, Jonathan (12) and Lydia (5).

Chair of Convention Committee 2009

Martha "Betty" Smith

Vice-Chair of Convention Committee

Pam Holmes

Chair of Fall Conference - SLP 2008

Lori Kincannon

Lori is currently a speech-language pathologist in Pitt County Schools in Greenville, NC. She graduated from Florida State University in 2000, and worked in a hospital pediatric rehab outpatient facility and home health care for two and a half years in Tallahassee, FL. In January, 2003, she moved to Wilmington, NC to be near her grandchildren who live in Jacksonville, NC. At that time she was employed with Onslow County schools until she moved to Greenville in August, 2003, when she began working for Craven County schools. She worked for Craven County until January, 2007. Lori has served as program coordinator and president of SHARE at ECU, and as a volunteer at past NCSHLA conventions.

Her favorite activities include playing with her two grandsons and running-those two things kind of go together! This past year she ran her first half-marathon and ended up running two more before the year was up.

Vice-Chair of Fall Conference - SLP

Timothy Harris

Vice-Chair of Fall Conference - Audiology

Angela Bright Pearson

Communique Editor - Audiology

Melissa Palmer

Morganton, NC

Ms. Palmer is an audiologist with the Hearing Care Center, a small private practice in Winston-Salem, NC. She lives in High Point, NC with her husband, Chris, and their two children, Ethan and Owen. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she received her B.A. in Communication Sciences and Disorders in 1994 and her M.A. in Audiology in 1996. Ms. Palmer worked as an educational audiologist from 1996 to 1997 and returned to UNCG in 1997 as a clinical audiologist, clinical supervisor, and externship coordinator. While at UNCG, she taught classes in clinical practicum, hearing aids and hearing screening. In 2001, she began working as a clinical audiologist at the Hearing Care Center. She currently performs audiological evaluations, auditory processing evaluations, hearing aid evaluations, dispenses hearing aids, and provides Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT). Melissa has also been an externship supervisor for graduate and AuD students from UNCG, as well as an adjunct faculty member at UNCG. In that role, she teaches courses in Hearing Aids and Introduction to Audiology. Additionally, she has also been a guest lecturer for the Aural Rehabilitation class at Winston-Salem State University.

Communique Editor - Speech Language Path.

Colette Edwards

Colette is an assistant professor and clinical educator in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. For 17 years, she was employed with the Rockingham County School System as a speech-language pathologist, serving in the Lead position from 1999-2006. Before working for the school system, she was a kindergarten teacher at New Garden Friend School, a private Quaker school. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina and her master's degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Ms. Edwards has been a member of ASHA since 1978 and a member of NCSHLA since 1995. Colette is an active member of NCASSPA and has served as Membership Coordinator, Treasurer and President. During her career, she has presented at NCSHLA and ASHA on topics relating to supervision, SLP-Assistants, and inclusion. She has assisted in coordinating summer speech-language camps sponsored by Rockingham Community College, UNCG, and HorsePower. Colette lives in Greensboro with her husband Bob who is a Program Coordinator at Guilford Technical Community College. They have 6 adult children and 4 grandchildren. Colette is looking forward to serving as one of the Communiqué Editors.

Planning Chair

Kathy Cox

Greenville, NC

Kathleen Cox is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at East Carolina University. She has been a North Carolinian for nearly 11 years and has been active in NCSHLA since coming to NC in 1996. At ECU, she teaches graduate level courses in voice, dysphagia, craniofacial anomalies and laryngectomy. Her research includes studies of voice and swallowing and she also supervises clinical practicum primarily in voice, swallowing, and sometimes articulation (to help her stay connected to kids!). She enjoys serving the profession to keep herself abreast of hot topics in the field as well as to continually meet new colleagues from around the state. She received her BS in Teacher of the Speech & Hearing Handicapped from Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY and her MA & PhD in Speech & Hearing Science from The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. She credits numerous faculty at Ithaca College and OSU for giving her confidence, exposure to new opportunities, and an excitement about helping others that led her to become a professor as well as a speech-language pathologist. One of Kathy’s favorite aspects of her position is working with undergraduate and graduate students in advising and career counseling.

Professional Affairs

Sherry Curtiss

Rocky Mount, NC

Sherry Curtiss is a speech language pathologist in Rocky Mount at Nash General Hospital. She graduated with a communication disorders degree from Appalachian State University in 1995 and received her undergraduate degree from UNC at Greensboro in 1993. Sherry has worked in a volunteer position for NCSHLA since 1995 and has served in the past as Spring Convention Chair and Board Member at Large. Regarding NCSHLA, Sherry says, "I can never give back more than I have been given by the wonderful group of people in this organization." She and Philip are the proud parents of two daughters, Eden and Gemma and a few cats and a dog. Sherry invites members to contact her by email and says, "it is an honor to serve as a team leader for NCSHLA.

SEAL

Tomma Hargraves

Raleigh, NC

Tomma has been an educational speech-language pathologist for longer than she wishes to share. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Washington and her master's degree from Southern Connecticut State University. Her professional experience includes public school systems in East Haven, Connecticut, Fairfax County, Virginia and currently in Wake County, North Carolina where she works as a speech-language pathologist in a year round school. She currently serves as an area supervisor for SLPs and a mentor for both SLPs and special education teachers. She is currently co-lead SLP for the Wake County Public Schools. Tomma has served on several NCSHLA convention committees, and has served as the treasurer for NCASSPA for 3 years.