phd acceptance speech

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The American University of Rome conferred an honorary doctorate on Stanley Tucci in recognition for his lifelong contributions to the humanities and arts and for the inspiration he provides to our students as they embark upon their own lives & careers.

Here we present AUR President Scott Sprenger's full laudation address followed by a video of Mr. Tucci's acceptance speech, given on the occasion of AUR's annual undergraduate commencement ceremony.

The President's laudation:

Mr. Stanley Tucci,  The American University of Rome takes great pride in its liberal arts programming, and particularly in the fields of Filmmaking and Food Studies, two seemingly unrelated disciplines but in which you, Stanley Tucci, have gained an international reputation.   Many of our students in these two fields will look at your dual career as a model. In the area of film, you have built a long and illustrious career as an actor, writer, voice artist, director and producer. You have played remarkably diverse roles and have portrayed the human condition in ways that not only resist Hollywood clichés and stereotypes, but that explore the full range of human desires and emotions, and in all of their nuances and orientations. We see this in recent films, such as  Supernova  and  The Children Act , but also in The Lovely Bones and  The Devil Wears Prada .  In the area of the culinary arts, AUR students - and indeed the entire AUR community - admire you as a cultural ambassador, with your invitation to rediscover Italy and its regionally diverse traditions via your cookbooks, films and, most recently, with the delightful CNN hit series, Stanley Tucci:  Discovering Italy  --  which you have called a “love letter” to your Italian ancestors.  This obvious passion for the history and culture of Italian cuisine, the art of cooking, and rituals of the table, reaches deep into your childhood and Italian family roots, and is a thread that runs through your life’s work, including in two key films,  Julie & Julia , a comedic biography of Julia Child, and  Big Night ,  with its emphasis on the ongoing tensions between two Italian immigrant brothers but who, in the final table scene, ritually reconnect as family over a shared omelet. We even catch a glimpse of this thread in your light-hearted, but entirely captivating, viral videos on how to make the perfect gin martini or negroni.  From the outside looking in, one of the extraordinary things about your career, Mr. Tucci, is not only the incredible diversity of roles and your multi-faceted talents, but your  longevity-- with a film career that begins from relatively modest origins, but which matures gradually over the space of nearly four decades from college theatre, to film cameos, to supporting roles, and to leading roles in internationally-renowned and prize-winning films.   In retrospect, the long arc of your career choices reveals an enduring sense of purpose and dedication to the arts in the most humanistic and elevated sense of the term—with the recent film  Final Portrait ,  a work that you wrote and directed on the artist Alberto Giacometti, standing out as a clear case in point.    Beyond the arts, you have demonstrated another facet of your dedication to humanism in your role as the board chair of the New York City Food Bank, which has had an enormous impact on the institution, not only in donations but by raising awareness around the widespread problem of food insecurity. You have also been involved with the making of a UN Refugee Agency video titled  “What They Took with Them”  in order to raise awareness around the global refugee crisis.   I’d like to mention in passing that the American University of Rome is likewise dedicated to bettering the lives of refugees through our Rula Jabreal Scholarship Fund . Four of our graduates today in fact came to Italy after being displaced by political violence in Syria and Egypt.  Let me end by saying that this honorary doctorate from The American University of Rome is bestowed with our deepest respect for you, and in recognition of your lifelong contributions to the humanities and arts, and to the inspiration you provide our students as they embark now upon their own lives & careers.  I am absolutely delighted to use the authority invested in me by the District of Columbia, and the State of Delaware, to confer upon you, Stanley Tucci, the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters  Honoris Causa .    Ladies and Gentlemen: Doctor Stanley Tucci.

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How to Write an Acceptance Speech

Last Updated: March 21, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Lynn Kirkham and by wikiHow staff writer, Kyle Hall . Lynn Kirkham is a Professional Public Speaker and Founder of Yes You Can Speak, a San Francisco Bay Area-based public speaking educational business empowering thousands of professionals to take command of whatever stage they've been given - from job interviews, boardroom talks to TEDx and large conference platforms. Lynn was chosen as the official TEDx Berkeley speaker coach for the last four years and has worked with executives at Google, Facebook, Intuit, Genentech, Intel, VMware, and others. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,097,203 times.

When you win an award or honor, it's traditional to share a few words. Writing an acceptance speech can be challenging, so it helps to brainstorm and prepare in advance. You should open your speech with a brief introduction of gratitude, move on to thanking your benefactors, and conclude your speech with some inspiration and optimism. This is your time to shine, but showing humility will leave your audience feeling truly pleased for you and your success.

Brainstorming Ideas

• After you make an initial list of people you want to thank, walk away and come back to the list later. There might be people you forgot to include that you'll remember at a later time.
• If you're worried about leaving someone important out of your speech, ask a close friend or coworker to help with your list. They might think of someone you forgot to include.

• For example, if you're receiving an award for your volunteer work, try searching “volunteer award acceptance speeches” in a search engine. If you're referencing speeches in a physical book, try to find a book that has the speeches organized by award type.

Writing Your Speech

• For example, you could write “I am so honored to be standing here today to receive this community leadership award. Serving my community has been a joy and a privilege that I am grateful for every single day. I wouldn't be able to do it if it weren't for all the amazing people in this city."

• You don't have to say someone's name to show you're thankful for them. For example, instead of thanking all of your coworkers individually, you could say “I can't express enough how grateful I am for all of my amazing colleagues.”
• You can thank the members of the organization giving you the award without listing off their names by saying something like “Thank you so much to the team at the New York Nonprofit Conference for recognizing me with this incredible award.”

• For example, if you're winning an award in recognition of your volunteer work with kids, you could mention how you think more work needs to be done to combat childhood illiteracy.
• Don't use your acceptance speech as a time to rant about your political viewpoints or talk heatedly about a controversial topic (unless it's directly connected to the award you're receiving). You'll likely alienate members of the audience and upset the organization that gave you the award.

Rehearsing Your Speech

• If there's someone mentioned in your speech that can't attend the event, invite them to practice with you. That way they get to hear your speech and you have someone to give you pointers.

• Notice how your voice sounds. Make sure you're speaking loud enough and that what you're saying is clear and understandable.

Writing Help

Community Q&A

• Make eye contact with members of the audience to appear more engaged. [11] X Research source Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Bring a copy of your speech with you onstage. You might not need to use it, but it's helpful if you forget someone's name. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Avoid reading the copy of speech, but use notes and make sure to look up at the audience more tha you read what you write. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Avoid negative or apologetic statements during your speech. They can make you seem ungrateful. Thanks Helpful 10 Not Helpful 1

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-to-prepare-an-accepta_b_9290348
• ↑ Lynn Kirkham. Public Speaking Coach. Expert Interview. 20 November 2019.
• ↑ https://www.gvsu.edu/ours/oral-presentation-tips-30.htm
• ↑ https://professional.dce.harvard.edu/blog/10-tips-for-improving-your-public-speaking-skills/
• ↑ https://www.washington.edu/doit/presentation-tips-0

About This Article

To write an acceptance speech, start with a brief introduction that expresses your gratitude and makes a connection with your audience. Then, in the body of your speech, focus on the people that you want to thank. Try to avoid thanking too many people so your audience doesn't grow impatient by sticking with the people directly involved with the award and your immediate support system. Finally, conclude your acceptance speech on a brief, positive note and thank the audience one last time. To learn how to rehearse an acceptance speech, scroll down! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Acceptance Speech

Being recognized or awarded is one of the best feelings in the world. It gives us the feeling of being overwhelmed with so much gratitude and that we would also want to share our achievement with people who helped in the sidelines. One way of giving back and showing sincere gratitude is through acceptance speeches. The heart of every acceptance speech is gratitude. Acceptance speeches are also a way of acknowledging people who helped the recipient of the award or the recognition in acquiring all his or her achievements.

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What Is an Acceptance Speech?

An acceptance speech is a speech with an aim to simply express gratitude after receiving a recognition or an award.

10 Tips for Writing an Award-Winning Acceptance Speech

We all know that acceptance speeches are often delivered after receiving an award but it does not mean that your acceptance speech shouldn’t be award-winning either. Here are ten steps on how to make and deliver an acceptance speech that can even make you earn another award if there is a contest for acceptance speeches:

1. Know Your Time Limit.

If you already know what award you will be receiving, you have to make sure that you asked about the duration of the entire awarding ceremony before starting your speech . In that way, you would know your time limit for your speech. You have to make sure that your speech would fit the given time frame in order to make sure that it does not exceed and make unnecessary changes in the program just because your speech was too long.

3. Acknowledge All that Has to be Acknowledged

It’s only right that you should recognize the people who have helped you in the sidelines. Most people would acknowledge their family, friends, and colleagues but this is too common; acknowledge the people who, even with their small contribution has made a great impact in helping you achieve your smart goals and successes.

4. K.I.S.S. and Brevity.

Most of the awarding ceremonies would often take 2-3 hours and oftentimes, there are a lot of people to be given an award and you may also add the myriad of performances and presentations in between. If you would have a speech with a length of more than five minutes for a single award or recognition, you will be taking too much of the awarding ceremony’s time and you have to keep in mind that you are not the only person to be awarded or given with a recognition. That is why you have to maintain the brevity, or keep your acceptance speech short and simple or else it will bore your audience and you would be taking too much time from the allotted time duration of the awarding ceremony.

If you are a natural entertainer, then make good use of this in your acceptance speeches. Awarding ceremonies can be boring and it is only in ad-libs from hosts or emcees and speeches by awardees that a ceremony can be on the light side. But caution: do not focus solely on making your speech humorous or else your focus would stray away from what your acceptance speech is actually about and that is your expression of gratitude.

6. Tell a Story.

If you have found a difficulty in making your audience laugh, you can always tell a story. Good storytellers, without humor, can always entertain its audience. You can always share your struggles and mini-successes as you make your way to your main goal. In this way, you can actually inspire people who may actually share the same path and struggles as yours. People would always want to have a company in their miseries.

7. Do Not Bring Notes.

Aside from the fact that reading our acceptance speech on pieces of small notes would not make a good impression, memorizing and familiarizing our own speech can somehow improve or establish our credibility. Memorizing our own speech would also help us gain confidence in delivering the speech.

8. Always End with a Bang

If you want to make a great impact on your audience, always end your acceptance speech with a bang. You can summarize and condense the groups of people who helped you but this is not anymore necessary. What’s necessary is that you would make a statement that would give you a solid impression. One sign that you would be making a good impression is that you whatever you said in your speech, even if it is in the introduction, will be remembered by the audience. Although it is not necessary to end with a bang, it would actually make you feel good other than receiving the award or the recognition.

9. Speak From the Heart

Even if it is good to memorize our speech, sometimes it is only best that we would familiarize our acceptance speech so we that we will have a chance to speak from the heart. Memorizing would sometimes make us sound robotic as if we’re reading something, but if we familiarize and just speak form the heart, we actually become genuine in all the words and in the expression of our gratitude and honest appreciation to all the people we are acknowledging.

10. Make The Fact Clear that this Is Not Just About You

You should always make it clear that if ever there were people who helped you along the way, you should always and also acknowledge them and let them share your achievements. Always be humble but do not be overly modest to the point that you would sound fake and just act for the sake of trying to look down to earth. But that does not mean you could not be proud of the people who helped you along the way; again, remember to acknowledge their contributions, no matter how big or small that contribution is.

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3 Simple Ways in Writing an Award-Winning Acceptance Speech

If you already know that you would be recognized and awarded, you should always prepare your acceptance speech beforehand. Unless you’re eloquent and confident enought that you would be able to ace an imprompty acceptance speech, then you may go ahead and skip the following list. But if you feel like you would still need to work on your writing your speech, then read this:

1. Make an Outline

Always start any writing composition with an outline. The outline will serve as your guide through out your writing process. This will give you direction. Make sure that in your oultine, you will have the parts of your speech as headers and right below the headers or the major parts of your speech are the ideas that you would want that part to contain with.

2. List Down the People You Would Want to Thank and Acknowledge

List down all the possible names of people and groups or organization that you would want to share your recognition or award so that you would not have a difficulty in remembering them when you would actually be already delivering your speech. You wouldn’t want to get any chances of being a person who shows no gratitude if ever you would forget to thank even one person or group of people, right?

3. Be Sincere and Genuine

Remember that the heart of every acceptance speech is gratitude and we all know that gratitude should always be sincere and genuine. It is not real gratitude if you would be all fake in your expression of thanks. It does not take a million to be genuine in thanking people that you should really be thanking. Always make sure that you have recognized every effort made by the people who helped you along the way and make sure that in thanking them, you sincerely and truly do.

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better operations

By prof. torbjørn netland, a speech from a phd to fellow phds.

The annual Doctoral Degree Awards Ceremony has just been ceremoniously arranged at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology ( NTNU ), in Trondheim. I got the great honor of giving the Fellow Speech to the 370 new Doctors of Philosophy (PhDs). This post is an excerpt of this speech. It is a call for PhDs—in any field—to use their hard-won knowledge to contribute to a better society.

Speech from a PhD to fellow PhDs, NTNU’s Doctoral Degree Awards Ceremony,  28.3.2014, by Torbjørn Netland, PhD

A special thanks to my supervisor Professor Arild Aspelund for significantly inspiring the content of the speech. Also thanks to Professor Ola Strandhagen, Senior Researcher Johan Ravn and The Internet for inspirational ideas.

See more pictures from the 2014 PhD Awards Ceremony at NTNU’s Flickr page.

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PhD Program in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences

Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences

The PhD program provides training for the next generation of scientists in speech, language, and hearing sciences. You will receive world-class training from leading experts in outstanding research facilities. The program includes several major research-focused milestones that help you craft a professional portfolio to prepare you for teaching and research in academic settings.

Program Highlights

• Faculty engage graduate scholars in a variety of topics covering interdisciplinary research on normative and disordered processes in speech, language, voice, swallowing and hearing.
• As a PhD student, you will be  fully funded  (for the first four years of your degree) through a variety of sources, including individual fellowships (at the university and national level), two NIH training grants, research assistantships and teaching assistantships. Additional years of funding are dependent on successful progress towards degree, and availability of funds. You will receive individually tailored training, and students from our program have an exemplary history of moving into impactful research-oriented and academic careers.
• We are committed to ensuring an encouraging, supportive, collaborative and inclusive environment for our PhD students to thrive as members of the broader academic community.

Research Areas

• Hearing science; hearing disorders
• Language science; language disorders and disabilities
• Speech, swallowing, and voice science; speech, swallowing and voice disorders

Potential Careers

Graduates of our PhD program may have any of the following careers:

• Positions as faculty members at academic institutions/higher education universities .
• Research scientists in medical or research centers and/or industry.
• Positions as directors/leaders in clinical or research centers in academia, healthcare or industry.

Program Quick Facts

Degree Type : Doctoral

Program Length : 4-5 years (for students with a master’s degree or higher) — students can also apply with bachelor’s degree

Location : West Lafayette, IN

Department/School : Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences

To learn more about our department’s PhD program and see sample course plans, please read our PhD program handbook .

Get to know our program through virtual information sessions

In the speech, language, and hearing sciences PhD program, you will have opportunities to work with multiple faculty members with compatible research interests — including colleagues from other departments — to investigate disorders related to speech, language, hearing, swallowing and balance.

• Joshua Alexander
• Arielle Borovsky
• Françoise Brosseau-Lapré
• Alexander Francis
• Michael Heinz
• Natalya Kaganovich
• Brandon Keehn
• David Kemmerer
• Ravi Krishnan
• Arianna LaCroix
• Laurence B. Leonard
• Georgia Malandraki
• Allison Schaser
• Maureen Shader
• Preeti Sivasankar
• Elizabeth Strickland
• Ronnie Wilbur

Admissions/Requirements

If you are thinking of applying to the speech, language, and hearing sciences PhD program at Purdue, we strongly recommend you contact prospective advisors/ faculty before starting the application process.

If you are applying only for the PhD program, please submit all materials via the Purdue Online Application system .

Application Materials to be Submitted Online

• Statement of Purpose.
• Curriculum Vita.  This is an optional field in the application system but is recommended by the department.
• Writing sample. (Optional, submit under Supporting Documents)
• List of 3 recommenders. 
• Application fee . ( Application Fee Information )
• Official transcripts from all institutions attended . Please upload copies of your official transcripts to the application system. The Purdue Graduate School will use these documents for admission purposes. International transcripts must be uploaded or submitted in their original form and in translation, along with copies of any diplomas awarded. Any transcripts sent electronically through an approved e-service (e-SCRIP, etc) must be sent to the Graduate School at  [email protected] . This delays the receipt of the transcript to the department, so uploaded copies of official documents or official hard copies are preferred. Please send any paper transcripts to the  SLHS Graduate Program Secretary .
• For those whose first language is not English, we require official test scores less than 2 years old  from one of the following: TOEFL iBT or IELTS.

PLEASE NOTE: GRE scores are no longer being required for the SLHS PhD program.

Guide to Writing a Statement of Purpose

Below are some helpful hints about writing a statement of purpose to accompany your graduate school application.

• The individuals reading your application for the PhD program will want to know how you can contribute to the program. Therefore, the focus should be on how you’ve spent your time as an undergraduate and/or graduate student preparing for your PhD journey.
• Do not include too much personal information. You need to prepare a professional document — something that will convince the admissions committee that you are serious about doing PhD-level work. Anecdotes about how you got interested in the field or how you’ve always wanted to help people or make a difference are not a good idea.
• The document should be well-written, concise and free of typos. A sloppy document will send the wrong kind of message (e.g., it might send a signal to the admissions committee that you’ll be just as sloppy about your graduate work).
• If you can, be specific about how you fit into the program — in other words, tailor it to the school. Talk about the work of specific professors at the university to which you are applying. This provides yet another way to demonstrate your professional maturity.

Applications for International Students

To be eligible for departmental funding as a PhD student, all international applicants must meet the following department standards:

• English proficiency test scores are required of all international applicants whose first language is not English.
• TOEFL iBT: a minimum total score of 100 with minimum individual scores of 28 for speaking, 22 for writing, 22 for listening and 22 for reading.
• IELTS: a minimum score of 7.5 with no single band score lower than 7.0.

International transcripts must be uploaded or submitted in their original form and in translation, along with copies of any diplomas awarded.  Please send any paper transcripts to the SLHS Graduate Secretary .

Interviews for Admission

All prospective PhD applicants will be interviewed prior to admission. The applicants will be contacted by the department for the scheduled interview.

Application Deadlines

• January 1 (fall admission) and August 1 (spring admission)

Program Director

Dr. Beth Strickland is the graduate chair and PhD program director in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences (SLHS). Professor Strickland has been in this role for four years and has been a faculty member in SLHS since 1995. She is also the director of one of our two NIH T32 training grants that support PhD students and postdoctoral scientists. She has a long history of mentoring graduate students and research trainees in the department and is the 2023 recipient of the HHS Outstanding Mentor Award and Provost’s Award for Outstanding Graduate Mentor. Her research is on behavioral measures of hearing, particularly those that may reflect the processing of the peripheral auditory system.

Doctoral Acceptance Speech

­ Journalist and autism campaigner Owen Spencer-Thomas was awarded an honorary doctorate for his services to the voluntary sector and journalis­m by the University of Westminster.

This is the full text of his acceptance speech after receiving his Honorary Doctorate of Letters, conferred by the University and presented by the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Geoff Petts, in a ceremony at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, on 18 January 2010.

Chair of the Court of Governors, Vice-Chancellor, fellow graduands, ladies and gentlemen,

I am most privileged to receive this Honorary Doctorate from a University that plays such a big part in developing the potential and talent of tens of thousands of students who come from so many different parts of the world.

Forty years ago when I received my first degree, I never dreamt I would be standing here today robed in scarlet.

Soon after they offer you an Honorary Degree, one of the first questions the University of Westminster asks you is the size of your hat. Now was it to make sure this splendid scarlet academic cap fits or did they want to know by how much my head had grown?

Well, I share this day with 200 other graduands, men and women, from all walks of life, who have spent several hard years carrying out advanced research and adding to our knowledge. This is your day too and I congratulate you on your splendid achievements.

I was a student at The Polytechnic, Regent Street. Many will know, The Poly, as it was affectionately called, was the forerunner of the University of Westminster, gaining its new status in 1992.

My days in higher education during the Sixties, were among my most memorable. It was a time of massive change and social revolution, rapid expansion in Higher Education, and the era of student unrest.

I was privileged to become the first sabbatical President of the newly formed Student’s Union in 1966. It was then that I first understood how many of one’s achievements come from the inspiration, collaboration and support of many other people, colleagues and friends. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them all and share this honour with them.

Whatever the title, an award not only honours the recipient, but it also honours and raises the profile of the profession, charity or sport in which a person has excelled.

I hope I can continue to be a worthy standard bearer both for journalism and for autism charities, as well as the Church in which I am an ordained priest. For it is in these areas that my heart also lies.

I have been fortunate to work as a journalist both in television and radio during times of innovation and growth when we had abundant opportunity to take risks and develop new programme forms.

The emergence of interactive broadcasting offers new opportunities to today’s journalists. But as the media compete in an increasingly tough market, journalists come under greater pressure to compromise their commitment to truth and accuracy.

And I think it is the duty of elder statesmen in the profession to support and encourage those who follow us and want to maintain high standards in journalism.

Television has its own way of humbling people. Despite the hard graft that goes on behind the scenes, I think I shall be better remembered for my brief appearance on ITV’s It’ll Be Alright on the Night. I was reporting on the flood stricken village of Alconbury Weston in Cambridgeshire. We had borrowed a canoe, which I promptly capsized. I was drenched to the skin for all to see.

Now the great irony for me is that although communication has been central to almost all my work, our elder son has severe autism. Huw can neither speak, nor read, nor write. His understanding of the world around him is cruelly constrained and very different from yours or mine. But despite his lack of language, he is among those who taught me and in his own way encouraged me and my family to campaign for people with autism.

His needs and the needs of many like him stimulated a small group of us to start from scratch and to campaign for specialised accommodation for adults like him.

Huw propelled me into the challenging world of fundraising. In our spare time we raised over £1,000,000 to provide Cambridgeshire’s first unit. And on that journey we had many other successes.

May you all have the good fortune to know someone who will give you the motivation to experience the joy and satisfaction you receive from helping others.

With these thoughts in mind, I proudly but humbly stand before you to accept this Honorary Doctorate which you have so kindly bestowed upon me.

>> Return to articles

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

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There are over 300 institutions offering degree programs in audiology, speech-language pathology, and speech, language, and hearing science available in EdFind. To learn more about the data in EdFind or for further information about education in communication sciences and disorders, visit ASHA’s About EdFind web page .

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The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for members and affiliates who are audiologists; speech-language pathologists; speech, language, and hearing scientists; audiology and speech-language pathology assistants; and students.

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The Speech-Language Pathology concentration provides interested SHBT students with the opportunity to complete the academic and clinical requirements set by the American Speech-Hearing-Language Association (ASHA) for certification as a speech-language pathologist.

Students complete a series of 13 CSD courses (31 credits total) and 5 clinical practicum placements (400 hours of supervised clinical experience for 15 credits) offered by the Communication Sciences and Disorders Master’s Program at the MGH Institute of Health Professions (MGH-IHP), which is accredited by ASHA.

The academic and clinical requirements are typically completed during G2 and G3 of the SHBT Program. Students who complete the concentration coursework, pass the SHBT Oral Qualifying Exam, and earn a PhD degree in SHBT, can then earn the ASHA Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC-SLP) by passing a national written exam and completing a post-graduate clinical fellowship. The latter two postdoctoral activities are not part of the Speech-Language Pathology concentration of SHBT and are not funded by the SHBT training grant.

This concentration also requires a one-time payment (~$10,000) per student.

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Admission Requirements for the Ph.D. Program

The doctoral program at Penn State strives to prepare high-quality researchers to serve as leaders in the field of communication sciences and disorders.

Graduates of the program will be prepared to assume careers as researchers and scholars at colleges, universities, and research institutes. The Ph.D. program is not an advanced clinical degree; it is conferred in recognition of the attainment of the highest academic excellence and productive scholarship.

Students who enter the Ph.D. program in Communication Sciences and Disorders should have already obtained a Master's degree in CSD or another field. Students who hold a Master's degree outside of CSD may choose to seek the Master's degree in CSD along the way to earning a Ph.D., but this is not a requirement.

Regardless of the method of entry, all students will complete, at a minimum, three projects: a first, second, and third doctoral project.

Since the intent of the doctoral program is to prepare outstanding researchers and scholars to assume leadership roles within the field of communication sciences and disorders, only high-caliber students who demonstrate strong academic performance and research potential are accepted into the doctoral program. Admission to the Ph.D. program in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Penn State is very competitive.

Students accepted into the doctoral program have:

a cumulative GPA in their Masters program of well above a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale

outstanding letters of recommendation documenting their performance and their potential as researchers and scholars

a written statement of scholarly interests and research career goals

completed the Graduate Record Examination (GRE)

• GRE scores are optional ; the inclusion or the non-inclusion of GRE scores will not alter applicants' chance of acceptance into the program. Applicants are encouraged to submit GRE scores to provide evidence of their technical and/or writing skills in the absence of other supporting evidence. It is recommended that applicants have GRE scores greater than the fiftieth percentile on the verbal and quantitative sections and a 4.5 or above on the writing section.

Two-Step Admission Process

According to the practices of the Graduate School at Penn State, admission to the Ph.D. program is a two-stage process. First, the initial application to the Department for permission to enter the graduate program; and second, the qualifying exam to enter the doctoral program.

Completion of the Ph.D. program is dependent upon the student's successful completion of all academic course work and degree requirements (e.g., comprehensive examination, dissertation).

Best Speech-Language Pathology Programs

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Speech-language pathology is a competitive field for

Speech-language pathology is a competitive field for those who wish to help people with communication disorders, swallowing difficulties, voice pitch problems and more. These are the top master’s programs in speech-language pathology. Each school's score reflects its average rating on a scale from 1 (marginal) to 5 (outstanding), based on a survey of academics at peer institutions. Read the methodology »

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Communication Sciences and Disorders

Doctor of Philosophy in Speech and Hearing Science

The Doctor of Philosophy program in Speech and Hearing Science provides flexible, comprehensive training for scholar-researchers interested in communication processes and their disorders. Students with diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply and develop their skills in an atmosphere of interdisciplinary research. Graduates from the program have gone on to distinguished careers in academia, industry, and health care settings. Many serve as editors of major scientific journals in our field and assume leadership roles in the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Acoustical Society of America, National Institutes of Health and others.  

At the heart of the program are close associations with faculty who are, and have long been, nationally-recognized leaders in their fields who direct successful, externally-funded research programs. Their research initiatives are bolstered by the presence and reputation of Iowa's highly-ranked clinical training programs and by strong collaborations forged with faculty from the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, the School of Music, and the Colleges of Medicine (Otolaryngology/Neurosurgery), Engineering, and Public Health.  

Thinking about a PhD? Think Iowa!

Requirements

The Ph.D. program in Speech and Hearing Science requires a minimum of 72 s.h. of graduate credit and takes approximately four years to complete. The program provides flexible, comprehensive training for scholar-researchers interested in communication processes and their disorders. Students with diverse backgrounds in the natural and behavioral sciences are encouraged to apply.

Iowa's unique learning format is tailored to meet the needs and interests of each student. Students entering the program join a cohort of other Ph.D. students with shared intellectual passion. While admission to the Ph.D. program is competitive, funding is guaranteed for admitted students for up to four years and includes tuition, a stipend, and generous benefits. This funding structure allows students to rotate through multiple labs and potentially shift areas of emphasis after enrolling.

Graduates from Iowa’s Ph.D. program leave with strong research skills. Most have authored one or more peer-reviewed publications in a high-impact scientific journal. Many also leave with a record of success securing external funding, and all receive valuable teaching experience. Our graduates are actively recruited for academic positions at colleges and universities across the country or accept prestigious postdoctoral fellowships. Others find employment in industry or are recruited for research positions in medical settings.  

Ph.D./Au.D. Combined Program

Students interested in a Ph.D. with an emphasis in audiology or hearing science may be interested in obtaining clinical certification. This requires that they also have a clinical doctorate (the Au.D.). The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders offers a combined program that allows students to earn both degrees simultaneously. The Doctor of Philosophy/Doctor of Audiology program is especially appropriate for students who have more applied research interests but would like to work in academics.

The program requires 137 s.h. of coursework, including all of the clinical practicum experiences required for the Au.D. degree. Students also must meet all of the milestones required for the traditional Ph.D. degree. Completion time for the two degrees varies but is typically seven years.

Important Deadlines

Application Deadline : January 15th (for Fall semester enrollment)

Admission decisions are based on prior academic performance, letters of reference, and the applicant's statement about background and purpose. Applicants must meet the admission requirements of the Graduate College; see the  Manual of Rules and Regulations of the Graduate College  on the Graduate College website. For more information, see the Graduate Admissions Process page.

Dissertation Information

Predissertation Project Each doctoral student must complete a predissertation research project:

• This project should be of limited scope and should be selected and developed with a faculty advisor.
• The project must be data based, but the student can use existing data rather than generating new data. Generally the rules defining what is empirical enough to be a valid procedure for a dissertation would apply.
• It is expected that students do the project as part of CSD:7590 Research registrations, not as a part of research assistant assignments.
• All students will be required to give a proseminar presentation based on the predissertation project.
• The student must write a manuscript reporting the predissertation project. The manuscript will be submitted to the faculty advisor of the research, usually as part of a CSD:7590 Research registration.
• The student must have completed the predissertation project and passed the comprehensive examination before a PhD dissertation prospectus will be considered. The order of completion between the predissertation project and comprehensive examination is not fixed.

Dissertation Committee In developing the research project which is to constitute the doctoral dissertation, the student selects a faculty member or members to serve as the dissertation advisor(s). A dissertation prospectus committee also is selected by the student with the approval of the advisor and the department chair, who has the prerogative of adding members to the committee. This committee consists of at least five faculty members (including the advisor who serves as chair), one of whom is a faculty member of another department and three of whom are members of the faculty of this department.

• Preprospectus Meeting. After the initial planning of the research project has occurred, an optional preprospectus meeting of the student with the prospectus committee may be held. At this preprospectus meeting, the student provides the committee with information about the background and rationale for the proposed project, an initial statement of the questions or hypotheses to be investigated, and the essential elements of the proposed research procedures. No written document needs to be provided to the committee prior to the meeting; however, it is helpful for a statement of the problem and a general outline of the proposed procedures to be available to the committee members. The purpose of this meeting is to acquaint the committee with the nature of the developing project and, more importantly, to get their suggestions and comments about the further development of the project. The meeting is usually two hours in length. The committee then decides whether or not to give approval for the student to develop a formal prospectus for the proposed project. The committee may request that additional preprospectus meetings be held before the project is fully developed. These meetings are designed primarily to ensure that the student is embarking on a project which the committee feels is appropriate for a doctoral dissertation and to provide a means for the committee members to help the student develop the project.  
• Prospectus Meeting. Each student is required to develop a written prospectus to be presented to the prospectus committee prior to beginning the actual research project. This document generally includes material which eventually will constitute the introduction and procedures sections of the dissertation. The committee meets with the student (generally for two hours) and must approve the prospectus before the student can proceed.  
• Pre- and Post-comprehensive Exam Registration. The student is required to register each semester (except summer sessions) after passing the comprehensive examination until the degree is awarded. If a student fails to register, he or she may not be readmitted to candidacy until he or she has submitted an application which has been approved by his or her advisor, the department chair, and the dean of the Graduate College. Students on assistantships must register for 9 semester hours pre-comps; in the case of post-comps, a minimum requirement of 3 semester hours is required for students who are on funding.  
• 20-minute presentation
• 10-minute period for questions strictly from the public
• 75 minutes of in-depth questioning from the committee (the committee chair will at his or her discretion decide whether to allow additional questions from the public and if so, at what time during the 75-minute period)
• 15 minutes of final deliberations for which the committee will retire to another room
• Awarding of Degrees. Ph.D. degrees will be awarded upon favorable recommendation of the final examination committee and completion of all requirements specified for the degree by the Graduate College. These include the filing of an application for the degree, completion (or modification) of the filed plan of study, and the final deposit of the dissertation and dissertation abstract in the Graduate College along with the appropriate certificates of committee approval.

PhD in Speech and Hearing Science (General Catalog)

NOTICE: The University of Iowa Center for Advancement is an operational name for the State University of Iowa Foundation, an independent, Iowa nonprofit corporation organized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, publicly supported charitable entity working to advance the University of Iowa. Please review its full disclosure statement.

Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology

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Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology (SHBT) is an area of study within the Division of Medical Sciences, an administrative unit based at Harvard Medical School that coordinates biomedical PhD activities at the Longwood Medical Area. Students who study in SHBT receive a PhD in medical sciences. Prospective students apply through the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Harvard Griffin GSAS). In the online application, select  “Division of Medical Sciences” as your program choice and select "Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology" in the area of study menu.

SHBT​ is one of the programs in the Harvard Integrated Life Sciences, which facilitates collaboration and cross-disciplinary research. Visit HILS for additional  application instructions .

Unlike other programs that focus on biomedical or biotechnology, the Harvard speech and hearing bioscience and technology program covers all aspects of the field. The wide variety of course offerings enables you to choose and research the path that most interests you. You will gain knowledge and skills from many different disciplines, including acoustics, engineering, computer science, cellular and molecular neuroscience, psychophysics, cognitive science, linguistics, and clinical practice.

Examples of the many student projects being worked on include developing computational models capable of human-like speech recognition, exploring the structure and activity circuits within the auditory cortex, studying variability in cochlear implant performance, and investigating CRISPR-based technologies and construct-improvement to increase the efficiency of gene therapy in congenital hearing impairments.

The program has a long list of successful alumni with some securing faculty positions at Stanford University, MIT, and Boston University, while others have begun careers at companies like Novartis, Genentech, Boston Scientific, and Bose and nonprofits such as The Possible Zone, MakerWala Learners Trust, and MGH Licensing.

Standardized Tests

GRE General: Optional GRE Subject: Optional iBT TOEFL minimum score: 100 IELTS minimum score: 7

See list of Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology faculty

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Nash, John (1928-2015)

Marson.nash_.jpg.

Noted mathematician John Nash, Jr. (1928-2015) received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1950. The impact of his 27 page dissertation on the fields of mathematics and economics was tremendous. In 1951 he joined the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. His battle with schizophrenia began around 1958, and the struggle with this illness would continue for much of his life. Nash eventually returned to the community of Princeton. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1994. The 2001 film A Beautiful Mind , staring Russell Crowe, was loosely based on the life of Nash.

University Archives

John Nash's Dissertation

Non-cooperative Games, May 1950, is available in PDF format  Non-Cooperative_Games_Nash.pdf . The dissertation is provided for research use only. 

[Note: Chapter 6 of  The Essential John Nash,  edited by Harold W. Kuhn and Sylvia Nasar (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2001) contains a facsimile of Nash's 1950 Ph.D. dissertation on non-cooperative games.]

In the movie  A Beautiful Mind  there is a scene in which faculty members present their pens to Nash. What is the origin of the pen ceremony? When did it start?

The scene in the movie,  A Beautiful Mind,  in which mathematics professors ritualistically present pens to Nash was completely fabricated in Hollywood. No such custom exists. What it symbolizes is that Nash was accepted and recognized in the mathematics community for his accomplishments. While some movies are based on books, the film A Beautiful Mind states that it was  inspired  by the life of John Nash. There are many discrepancies between the book and the film.

May I see Nash’s graduate school records?

John F. Nash, Jr's records have been digitzed and are available to view here:  Graduate Alumni Records

May I see Nash’s faculty file personnel records?

Personnel files transferred to the archives after 2003 : Files are closed until 100 years after the person's year of birth or 5 years after the person's year of death, whichever is longer. Therefore, John F. Nash's personell files are closed until, June 13, 2028.

May I have a copy of Nash’s 1994 Nobel Prize acceptance speech?

At the Nobel Prize Award ceremony, His Majesty the King of Sweden hands each Laureate a diploma, a medal, and a document confirming the Prize amount. The Laureates do not give acceptance speeches . The scene in the movie A Beautiful Mind in which Nash thanks his wife Alicia for her continued support during his illness is fictional.

Laureates are each invited to give an hour-long lecture; however, the Nobel committee did not ask Nash to do so, due to concerns over his mental health.

Additional Resources

Princetoniana Committee Oral History Project Records , Interview with Harold Kuhn, Part 1, pp. 31-40.  In this part of the interview, Prof. Kuhn discusses his behind the scenes work for John Nash’s Nobel Prize.

Historical Subject Files Collection, 1746-2005 : A Beautiful Mind.

Article:  John Nash automobile accident May 23, 2015, in Monroe Township, New Jersey.

Research Tools for Printed Material (Books, Maps, Prints, etc.)

Stock market today: US futures tick up as traders wait for March job numbers

• US stock futures climbed ahead of Thursday's opening bell.
• Investors are waiting for the March non-farm payrolls report for clues about interest rates.
• Jerome Powell said the Fed won't start cutting borrowing costs until it's sure inflation is falling.

US stocks looked set to trade higher at Thursday's opening bell as investors mulled Jerome Powell's latest comments on inflation and waited for the release of the March non-farm payrolls report.

Futures for the S&P 500 were up 0.3% shortly after 5 a.m. ET, while Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was on pace to add about 90 points.

Federal Reserve Chair Powell stuck to the expected script on Wednesday, signaling to the market that the central bank will need more evidence that inflation is cooling toward its 2% target before it starts to cut interest rates.

"Recent readings on both job gains and inflation have come in higher than expected," he said in a speech at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Friday's job numbers could shift that narrative, though. Any signs of a slowdown in hiring or a rise in unemployment would boost the argument for the Fed to slash borrowing costs sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, yields on 10-year Treasury notes were flat and the US dollar index , which tracks the greenback against six other currencies, slipped 0.1%. 

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