Julie A. Washington, professor and the program director in communication sciences and disorders at Georgia State University, will be the featured guest speaker for the Arnold School's 2018 Annual Hooding Ceremony at 9 a.m. on Thursday, May 10 at the Koger Center for the Arts. The Hooding Ceremony is for the Arnold School's master's and doctoral degree recipients. The event also includes the presentation of student, faculty and alumni awards.

The University's official ceremony for doctoral graduates will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 12. The official, university-wide commencement event for all undergraduates and master’s degree students (including those in the Arnold School) will take place at 3 p.m. on Friday, May 11.

Speaker Bio

Julie A. Washington is a professor and the program director in communication sciences and disorders at Georgia State University. She is also an affiliate faculty member of the Research on the Challenges of Acquiring Language and Literacy initiative and the Urban Child Study Center.

Washington’s work focuses on understanding cultural dialect use in African American children with a specific emphasis on the impact of dialect on language assessment, literacy attainment and academic performance. Her work with preschoolers has focused on understanding and improving the emergent literacy skills necessary to support later reading proficiency in high-risk groups, with a special focus on the needs of children growing up in poverty in urban contexts.

Currently, Washington is a principal investigator on the Georgia Language Disabilities Research Innovation Hub, funded by the National Institutes of Health – Eunice Shriver National Institute on Child Health and Human Development. This research hub is focused on improving early identification of reading disabilities in elementary school aged African American children, and includes a focus on children, their families, teachers and communities.

Washington earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Spelman College in 1982 and master of science and doctor of philosophy degrees in speech and language pathology from the University of Michigan in 1984 and 1989, respectively.

More information on graduation and hooding