The origins of the Communication Disorders Program date to 1941 when Karl Wallace, professor of speech, and Fletcher Woodward, professor of otolaryngology, received University approval to establish a Speech and Hearing Center. The Center was one of the first of its kind on the Eastern Seaboard. An academic program followed and the first degrees were conferred in 1946. A doctoral degree was added in 1960.
Among the Program’s most illustrious leaders was Dr. Helen Gunderson Burr. From 1953 through 1966, the clinic, and later the academic program, were led by Dr. Burr. Importantly, Dr. Burr was among the first women promoted to rank of full professor at the University of Virginia. Professor Burr retired from the University in 1988.
A complete history of the Program is found in Wilson (2006) in her text titled The Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia 1905-2005 which is published by UVA Press and from which these remarks were drawn.
