The department shares the mission, vision, and values embraced by UT Health San Antonio and the School of Health Professions.
UT Health San Antonio
The University aims to "make lives better through excellence in education, research, health care, and community engagement." The strategies for achieving this mission are cultivating a new generation of excellent healthcare providers and scientists, conducting top-notch research, making discoveries available to the public, actively engaging in community healthcare service, and advocating healthcare policy.
School of Health Professions
The School of Health Profession's mission is to provide an excellent education to nurture future health professionals and leaders and advance the science and practice of the health professions. The main goal is to be a world-renowned school with top-ranked programs in the United States.
Speech-Language Pathology Program
As an integral part of the University and School, the Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology (MS-SLP) program aims to improve lives through education, research, health care, and community engagement.
Mission
The mission of the MS-SLP Program is to provide graduates with a broad knowledge base, expertise in evidence-based approaches, and real-world problem-solving (particularly in healthcare settings) experiences. We will achieve this mission through excellent education, scholarship, patient care, community partnership, and cultural diversity.
The MS-SLP Program will do this through:
- Educating a diverse student body to become excellent speech-language pathologists;
- Providing graduates with a broad knowledge base, expertise in evidence-based approaches, and real-world problem-solving (particularly in health care settings) experiences;
- Advancing the science and practice of speech-language pathology through research and scholarship;
- Ensuring that our students, graduates, and faculty provide outstanding speech-language pathology services to our patients and community; and
- Cultivating leadership for the speech-language pathology profession through professional service, community engagement, and community education.
Vision
Our vision is for the MS-SLP Program to be recognized as an outstanding training and education program that prepares excellent speech-language pathologists to practice in any setting, with additional training and a focus on medical speech-language pathology.
Program Goals
We seek to train and educate medical speech-language pathologists who are exceptional critical thinkers and research-driven clinicians who incorporate best practices to deliver high-quality, cost-effective, and accessible speech-language pathology services. We also seek to prepare leaders in speech-language pathology who can contribute to their profession and the communities they serve.
Goal 1: Excellence in Education.
The speech-language pathology program will demonstrate excellence in training and educating future speech-language pathologists in healthcare.
Goal 2: Excellence in Research and Scholarship.
The program will contribute to the discipline by discovering and disseminating new knowledge, skills, and tools in communication sciences and disorders.
Goal 3: Excellence in Patient Care.
The program will ensure high-quality clinical services to patients and communities in San Antonio and South Texas.
Goal 4 Focus Area: Excellence in Service and Community Engagement.
The program will make important contributions to professional service and community engagement.
Executive Summary: Strategic Plan 2022-2027
Program Goal 1: Excellent Education
Strategy 1. Recruit highly qualified faculty who have respectable educational credentials, areas of expertise, and professional experience to provide students with excellent academic and clinical education.
Strategy 2. Refine the current curriculum to prepare students to be exceptional critical thinkers and research-driven clinicians using the best practices.
Strategy 3. Provide students with appropriate clinical training in a wide range of community-based practica in preparation for future work as speech-language pathologists in diverse clinical settings.
Program Goal 2: Scholarship
Strategy 1. Provide a supportive environment for faculty’s and students’ scientific inquiry and scholarship.
Strategy 2. Encourage research opportunities between faculty and students for the scholarship.
Program Goals 3 and 4: Patient Care and Community Engagement
Strategy 1. Increase faculty practice through UT Health affiliations.
Strategy 2. Pursue and expand community engagement opportunities.