NSSLHA Chapter Spotlight: Illinois State University

NSSLHA Chapter Spotlight: Illinois State University
Published in the January 2026 issue of the ISHA Voice.

By Sarah Sleeter, Clinical Educator at ISU

NSSLHA at Illinois State University is a thriving student organization dedicated to helping our members grow professionally, engage with the community, and advocate in our field. Throughout the year, we host a variety of events to promote collaboration between speech pathology and audiology students, volunteer within the community, and foster connections within our CSD department.

This year we have organized events such as the Better Speech and Hearing Volleyball Tournament, to increase community in our department and raise money for our on-campus clinic. We also hosted a New Member Dinner for all of the freshman and transfer students, and students who just joined NSSLHA. This helped us to know them and allow them to interact with their classmates in a smaller scale environment, which ultimately made them feel more comfortable in our club and CSD department as a whole. 

We also have monthly meetings as a chapter where we invite SLP and AuD professionals to guest speak about their experiences in the field. This fall we had several speakers. We had the opportunity to hear from a member of our own faculty expanding on CSD study abroad experiences offered in our program. We also had a feeding specialist and ISHA mentor, Rosemarie Martin, walk us through a day in her life as an early intervention feeding and swallowing SLP. Lastly, we invited Ryan Mulligan to speak on his experiences as an ISU Alum now working at a VA hospital as an audiologist! 

In the fall semester, our collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Association, and an educational series hosted with our department, allowed members to participate in various events to increase awareness and education of Alzheimer’s. This highlights our dedication to advocacy while still strengthening connections between students, faculty, and our community.

Another community outreach that has been a part of NSSLHA for many years is our monthly bingo nights with Evergreen Village, a local assisted living facility. Here, members have the opportunity to build relationships with the residents and strengthen communication skills in an in-person experience. As a chapter we also drew and wrote a variety of holiday cards to pass out to the residents during our last bingo night of the semester to wish them a healthy and warm holiday season and New Year!

This past November, NSSLHA hosted its first ever book club, discussing Out of My Mind with one of our faculty members to explore deeper into advocacy, inclusion, and clinician responsibilities. 

Our fundraising efforts, social events, and service opportunities provide a place for ISU NSSLHA members to grow both personally and professionally. Looking ahead, we hope to continue to create new opportunities for engagement and help our members prepare for being effective clinicians.