You are here

Home » About Us

Faculty & Staff

Our faculty are active researchers and presenters at state, national and international conferences. They have numerous publications and serve as editors and on editorial boards of academic journals.  Members of our faculty have been honored as Distinguished Faculty, Endowed Professors, Outstanding Advisors and Research Mentors.  

Our students consistently rank our professors and advisors at levels above both the University and College averages. It is clear that we are eager to share what we know and what we are constantly learning with our students and with the world outside the University.

Academic Faculty

Ryan L. Nelson, PhD, CCC-SLP
Department Head and Associate Professor, Hawthorne-BORSF Endowed Professor I
Burke-Hawthorne Hall, Room 236
Current CV
Phone: 337-482-6726
Email: ryan.nelson@louisiana.edu
Research Interests: Childhood Language Disorders; Literacy Construction and Usage; Qualitative Research Methodologies
Kathleen Johnson Abendroth, PhD, CCC-SLP
Visiting Assistant Professor
Burke-Hawthorne, Room 224
Current CV
Phone: 337-482-6733
Email: kathleen.abendroth@louisiana.edu
Clinical Specialty: Autism Spectrum Disorder; Early Language Development; Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC); Literacy
 


 
Laura E. Arrington, PhD, CCC-SLP
Visiting Assistant Professor
Burke-Hawthorne Hall, Room 222
Phone:337-482-6869
Research Interests: Research Interests: Strengths-Based Practice; Literacy; Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
 

 
Elena Babatsouli, PhD
Assistant Professor, Ben Blanco/BORSF Endowed Professor in Communicative Disorders
Burke-Hawthorne, Room 246
Phone: 337-482-6727
Research Interests: Cross-linguistic child language acquisition and assessment in monolingualism and bilingualism; Speech sound disorders in children and adults; Louisiana minority languages; Second language acquisition; Phonetics/phonology, Morphology and syntax; Clinical linguistics; Psycholinguistics; Measures and quantitative methods
 

 
Michael P. Cannito, PhD, CCC-SLP
Professor, Doris B. Hawthorne- BORSF Endowed Professor II
Burke-Hawthorne Hall, Room 207
Current CV
Phone 337-482-1077
Email: michael.cannito@louisiana.edu
Research Interests:
Motor Speech Disorders; Cognitive & Language Disorders in Adults; Neurogenic Voice Disorders; Acoustic Analysis of Speech
 

 

 Holly L. Damico, PhD, CCC-SLP
Associate Professor, Hawthorne-BORSF Endowed Professor III
Burke-Hawthorne Hall, Room 222
Current CV
Phone 337-482-5240
Email: holly.damico@louisiana.edu
Research Interests: Language, Literacy, Qualitative Research, Social Engagement, Learning Theory and Application
 

 
Judith D. Oxley, PhD, CCC-SLP
Associate Professor
Burke-Hawthorne, Room 223
Current CV
Phone: 337-482-1188
Email: judith.oxley@louisiana.edu
Research Interests: Language Development and AAC; AAC in Asia; Acoustic Measures of Speech
 

 
Patrick J. Rydell, Ed.D, CCC-SLP
Visiting Assistant Professor
Burke-Hawthorne Hall, Room 232
Phone: 720-289-0145

 

Anthony P. Salvatore, PhD, CCC-SLP
Professor, Doris Hawthorne & Harmon Roy-BORSF Endowed Professor
Burke-Hawthorne Hall, Room 208
​Current CV
Phone: 337-482-6489
Email: anthony.salvatore@louisiana.edu
Research Interests: Aphasia, Concussion Management, Single Subject Design, Concept Learning

Jack S. Damico, PhD, CCC-SLP
Professor Emeritus
 

 

  

Clinical Faculty

 

 

Christine Weill, PhD, CCC-SLP

Director, Speech, Language, and Hearing Center
Burke-Hawthorne Hall,
Room 201-C
Current CV
Phone 337-482-1182
Email: christine.weill@louisiana.edu       
Clinical Specialty: Autism Spectrum Disorders; Language and Literacy Development; Social Interaction

Mona Breaux, MS, CCC-SLP
Clinical Supervisor
Burke-Hawthorne, Room 220
Phone: 337-482-6724
Email: ramona.breaux@louisiana.edu
Clinical Specialty: Speech and Language Diagnostics
 

Derek Dupuis, MS, CCC-SLP
Visiting Clinical Supervisor
Burke-Hawthorne, Room 225-B
Phone: 337-482-6722
Clinical Specialty: Language and Literacy Development, Articulation and Phonology, Autism Spectrum Disorder
 
Ashley Kidd, MS, CCC-SLP
Visiting Clinical Supervisor
Burke-Hawthorne, Room 249-E
Phone: 337-482-6577
Email: ashley.kidd@louisiana.edu
Clinical Specialty: Dysphagia, Aphasia, Dysarthria, Stroke, and MBSS/dysphagia diagnostic
 

 

 

Katherine Mcquitty Hays, MS, CCC-SLP
Visiting Clinical Supervisor
Burke-Hawthorne, Room 221
Phone: 337-482-5241
Email: katherine.hays@louisiana.edu
Clinical Specialty: Early Language Development, Articulation and Phonology, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Speech and Language Diagnostics

 

					
			
				

					Kimberly Muirhead, MS, CCC-SLP

				

					Clinical Supervisor

				

					Burke-Hawthorne, Room 223

				

					Phone 337-482-6707

					Email: kimberly.muirhead@louisiana.edu
Clinical Specialty: Language, Literacy, Articulation, Geriatrics

					
		

				
 

				

				
 

				
 

				
 

					
			
				Anne Williams, MS, CCC-SLP, BCS-F

				Clinical Supervisor

				Burke-Hawthorne, Room 218
Current CV

				Phone 337-482-6870

				Email: anne.williams@louisiana.edu
Clinical Specialty: Stuttering, Articulation & Phonology, Language Development		
		

	Adjunct Clinical Staff


 



				 
			
				

					Tessa Himel, MS, CCC-SLP

				

					Burke-Hawthorne, Room 249-B

				
				

					Evaluations/Diagnostics

					
		

				
 

					
			
				 
		

	Administrative Staff



				

				
 

					
			
				Roxanna Guillory Harris

				Administrative Assistant III, Department Office

				Burke-Hawthorne Hall, Room 236

				Phone 337-482-6721

				Email: rharris@louisiana.edu		
		

				 
			
				

					Susan Higginbotham

				

					Administrative Assistant

					Speech Language and Hearing Center

					Burke-Hawthorne Hall, Room 201D

					Phone 337-482-6490

					Email: susan.higginbotham@louisiana.edu