Cate Crowley, Distinguished Practitioner and doctoral student in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and a woman of varied expertise, is now being rewarded for her hard work.

Crowley-the winner of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundations' 2000 Rolland J. Van Hattum Award, which honors an individual "demonstrating exemplary commitment and contribution to the to the delivery of services in the schools-started her career as a speech-language pathologist, learned Spanish on the way, and seemingly found her calling as a lawyer.

After a ten-year law practice, nevertheless, Crowley returned to her original love. Interviewed by the ASHA (American Speech and Hearing Association) Leader, Crowley spoke of her disillusionment with the law. "I got really good jobs and worked on exciting cases and I had fancy offices. But I didn't love what I was doing. I did love my earlier work in speech-language pathology. It touched a need in me that law could never fulfill."

In 1993 Crowley started again and by 1996 she had developed the first program in New York State to train bilingual speech-language pathologists. In 1998 Crowley joined TC, where Professor John Saxman invited her to teach a course on bilingual speech pathology. The ASHA Leader writes that Crowley "now teaches several core courses and infuses them with an understanding of how to assess and treat culturally and linguistically diverse children."

Crowley divides her time between teaching and clinical work. She is a consultant at United Cerebral Palsy in Manhattan where she works with the 0-5 population. She also does evaluations for the NYC Board of Education for school-age children with hearing and visual impairments.

Speaking about her work with her TC students, Crowley said, "I love being at TC because graduate students really learn the nuts and bolts of speech pathology. They are gifted and motivated, and especially willing to go the extra mile with me."

How does she feel about receiving the Van Hattum Award? "It's an incredible honor. It's cool!"

Published Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2001