September 18, 2006

Couple honored for sound support of speech, hearing

Ruth Steer

Max (Mack) Steer, who died in 2003, founded the Purdue department. He served as the first department head from 1963 to 1970, when the program outgrew its home in the Department of English.

"Mack Steer's legacy is alive today through Purdue's world-class research and clinical operation," said Purdue President Martin C. Jischke. "This scholar's vision established a home for some of the nation's top researchers and students. It is a place where they can study topics such as how the brain processes sound and speech, the reasons for stuttering and improved hearing aid devices. We thank Mrs. Steer for continuing support of a program that meant so much to her husband and means so much to Purdue."

U.S.News and World Report most recently ranked the department's speech-language area in the nation's top three and the hearing area in the top eight.

"Purdue's speech, language and hearing sciences program is what it is today because of Mack Steer," said John Contreni, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. "Purdue is a leader in many research areas, including the biological, psychological, physical, neurophysiological and linguistic aspects of speech production, language and hearing. The foundation he created for the interdisciplinary area of human communication sciences is still strong today."

In April 2006, Ruth Steer gave $50,000 to a departmental scholarship fund that was renamed the Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Alumni and Friends Scholarship. Most of the couple's earlier gifts were directed to scholarships, including the Dr. M.D. Steer Graduate Scholarship, and clinics, such as the M.D. Steer Audiology and Speech-Language Clinics. The M.D. Steer Speech and Hearing Clinic Advisory Board also is named for him.

"My husband truly loved the department as well as the people involved, and he was completely devoted to developing the speech program," said Ruth Steer, a West Lafayette resident who worked at the clinic during World War II. "It was just the perfect place to work."

The Steers also have contributed to the Robert and Estelle Ringel Gallery, Purdue Convocations, Purdue radio station WBAA, and the Patti and Rusty Rueff Department of Visual and Performing Arts.

Ruth Steer earned a bachelor's degree in speech correction from the University of Wisconsin, then her master's degree in psychology in 1942 from Purdue. Mack Steer earned his bachelor's degree from Long Island University in 1932. He received his master's and doctorate degrees from the University of Iowa in 1933 and 1938, respectively. He specialized in speech pathology, audiology, voice science, military communications, instrumentation and psychoacoustics.

"Mack Steer was one of the first students to earn a doctoral degree in speech pathology, and he was one of a few in the late 1930s who made it a priority to create programs at research institutions that are devoted to speech, language and hearing sciences," said Bob Novak, clinical professor of audiology and head of Purdue's department. "Today there is a tremendous demand for hearing and language services, and we expect it to only grow with the aging baby boomer population. There also are many children who benefit from earlier diagnostic tests to identify hearing limitations or language development delays. This is a crucial realm of health care that continues to benefit from Mack Steer's passion."

Purdue's speech pathology program began in 1935 when Steer joined the faculty. The area was housed in the Department of English, and the program was initially created to assist students who had speech problems. Undergraduate students began training in the field under Steer, and he started a graduate program five years later. In 1948 the first doctoral degree was awarded. Purdue's program was one of the first in the country to achieve accreditation in speech pathology and audiology from the Educational Standards Board, now the Council for Academic Accreditation, of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

There are more than 30 academic and clinical faculty members housed in the department today, and 105 graduate students and 235 undergraduate students are pursuing degrees through the department. More than 1,500 students enroll each year in the department's classes, such as American Sign Language. In 2004 the department received $2.5 million in extramural research funding for projects in areas such as child language development, linguistics of American Sign Language, neurophysiological bases of speech motor control, and infant speech and language development.

In 2002 Purdue, in conjunction with Indiana University School of Medicine Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, became the first Big Ten university to offer a clinical doctorate degree program designed and conducted jointly by a university audiology program and a school of medicine department of otolaryngology.

The M.D. Steer Audiology and Speech-Language Clinics also are home to a variety of professional diagnostic and rehabilitative services, such as fitting hearing aids and assistive listening devices, as well as providing group or individual therapy. The clinics are a fee-for service provider in the community. There were more than 2,000 patient visits 2005-06, and many of the department's students gained clinical experience while working with these patients.

The Speech-Language Clinic provides services to individuals throughout the lifespan. The clinic currently offers an adult language program for clients with language problems caused by strokes or other brain injuries; an adult geriatric program in the Indiana Veteran's Home; Birth to Three Services, the preschool language program in conjunction with Greater Lafayette Area Special Services; and the Voice Program in conjunction with area physicians with Lafayette Otolaryngology Associates.

Services offered in the Audiology Clinic include hearing screenings for preschoolers and adults at various community locations, industrial hearing evaluations, auditory brainstem response testing, and central auditory processing disorder evaluation. The Audiology Clinic is a follow-up confirmation test site for babies that have been identified with possible hearing loss by hearing screening programs in Indiana birthing hospitals.

Both clinics provide hearing, speech and language screening that is available to all Purdue students, staff and faculty.

The luncheon honoring Ruth Steer is part of a one-week celebration leading up to Purdue's Sept. 23 Homecoming. Events focus on ways Purdue is improving education and helping the state of Indiana as part of the university's strategic plan and $1.5 billion fund-raising campaign, which so far has garnered $1.426 billion.

Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, (765) 494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Sources: John Contreni, (765) 494-3661, contreni@purdue.edu

Robert Novak, (765) 494-1534, rnovak@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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