Speech-Language Pathology, MS

Mission

The mission of the speech-language pathology program at Widener University is to prepare clinically competent, ethical, community-focused, and culturally respectful speech-language pathologists, committed to preventing, diagnosing, and treating communication and swallowing disorders across the lifespan. 

The program has five goals and curricular themes:

1. Evidence-Based Critical Thinking: To provide students with high-quality academic and clinical experiences that foster evidence-based critical thinking skills.
2. Interprofessional Collaboration: To educate clinicians who understand interprofessional service delivery models in education and health care settings.
3. Cultural-Linguistic Competency: To provide students with culturally-linguistically diverse, interprofessional, clinical experiences across a variety of settings.
4. Leadership and Service to the Community: To develop student leadership skills and a commitment to serving the community.
5. Innovative Scholarship: To contribute to the understanding of communication and swallowing disorders through innovative faculty and student scholarship.  

Accreditation

The Master of Science (M.S.) education program in Speech-Language Pathology (residential) at Widener University is a Candidate for Accreditation by the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CAA) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2200 Research Boulevard, #310, Rockville, MD, 20850. Phone: 800-498-2071 or 301-296-5700. Candidacy is a “preaccreditation” status with the CAA, awarded to developing or emerging programs for a maximum period of 5 years.

Degree Requirements

To qualify for the degree of Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology, the candidate must:

• Comply with all general requirements of Widener University relating to the governance of graduate programs;
• Complete all degree requirements within a total of five calendar years from the date of first enrollment;
• Complete 67 credits of graduate course work;
• Complete all courses in a sequential fashion;  
• Maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better;
• Complete no less than 375 hours of supervised clinical practice;
• Demonstrate appropriate professional behavior and conduct throughout all didactic and clinical components of the program; and
• Pass the comprehensive examinations.