Department History

The history of the department has its beginnings in the late 19th century when ROTC students were required to take a course called Rhetoric and Verse Speaking. This course evolved into a series of courses and finally into the Department of Public Speaking in 1911. This transitioned to the Department of Speech in 1923 and Department of Speech Communication in 1947. Over time, specializations developed within the department. What is now Communication Sciences and Disorders was called Speech and Hearing Sciences, and it was a division within the Speech Communication Department. In 1991, the divisions of Communication Studies, Theatre, and Speech and Hearing Sciences split into their own departments, and the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders was born.