Published: November 12, 2020 | Erin Bluvas
Ellie Cooper, a doctoral student in the Department of Communication Science and Disorders (COMD), has been selected as a member of the 2020 Early Childhood Leadership Initiative Cohort of the Division of Early Childhood/Council for Exceptional Children. Cooper was inspired to work with individuals with hearing loss by her grandfather, who lost his hearing after years of working in a factory to support his family. Arkansas-based Cooper had trouble communicating with him over the miles of phone lines that separated her from her grandparents in Massachusetts.
“I remember speaking to my father and him relaying what I had said over the phone to my grandpa, because he could never hear the high frequency of my voice,” Cooper says. “When we went to visit, I would be in awe of his hearing aid, and always wondered how it worked – or didn’t work, for that matter.”
The University of South Carolina has a reputation of being a pristine institution for research, and the COMD department is especially known for its commitment to research.
-Ellie Cooper, Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders student
Cooper had already chosen a career in communication sciences and disorders as an undergraduate student at the University of Arkansas and found her niche within the field during her master’s program at Fontbonne University. While at Fontbonne, Cooper learned about children with hearing loss and quickly realized she had found her passion.
After graduating in 2016, she spent the next three years at Arkansas Children’s Hospital Northwest, where she was the only speech-language pathologist working with children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Cooper spent more than a thousand hours earning a certification as a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist, Auditory-Verbal Therapist and gained experience in a variety of collaborative settings (e.g., home-based services, schools, outpatient hospital clinic, cochlear implant team).
“My time spent working clinically and on several multidisciplinary teams has molded my experiences in this field, and I have incorporated this knowledge into my doctoral research,” says Cooper, who decided to continue her education so she could help improve intervention services for children with hearing loss. “The University of South Carolina has a reputation of being a pristine institution for research, and the COMD department is especially known for its commitment to research.”
In particular, Cooper came to UofSC to work with Krystal Werfel in the associate professor’s Written Language Lab. Together, along with the rest of the lab, they study literacy skills for children with hearing loss.
“Dr. Werfel has been such an exceptional mentor to me in this program,” Cooper says. “She has provided me with essential tools for success in my future career and has challenged me to be a critical thinker for current and future research.”
I understand the importance of integrating clinical work with research endeavors,” says Cooper, who has enjoyed mentoring undergraduate and master’s students at UofSC.
-Ellie Cooper, Ph.D. in Communication Sciences and Disorders student
Just a year into her doctoral program, Cooper has already worked on multiple research projects, submitted a grant, and is in the process of submitting her first peer-reviewed publication. She is also a Norman J. Arnold Doctoral Fellow and a member of UofSC’s Graduate Civic Scholars Program. To increase her multidisciplinary perspective even further, Cooper recently joined the 2020 Early Childhood Leadership Initiative Cohort of the Division of Early Childhood/Council for Exceptional Children.
This program provides technical assistance and training to emerging leaders. It also supports them and their advisors as they develop and implement an action plan to enhance one of these six areas: leadership, coordination and sustainability, recruitment and retention, personnel standards, inservice, preservice, evaluation.
After completing her Ph.D., Cooper plans to continue to research outcomes for children with hearing loss. “I understand the importance of integrating clinical work with research endeavors,” says Cooper, who has enjoyed mentoring undergraduate and master’s students at UofSC. “I have a strong desire to continue to produce research while also teaching future professionals in the field of speech-language pathology and audiology.”