Jan. 18, 2022

Stacy Wagovich, chair of the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences (SLHS), will step down at the end of February to join her husband at the University of Texas at El Paso. She will serve as associate dean for research and scholarship in their College of Health Sciences.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to have led this outstanding department of faculty and staff committed to cutting-edge research and excellence in the classroom and clinic,” Dr. Wagovich said. “The faculty, staff and students of SLHS are the heart of our programs and the reason for our success. I will watch fondly from a distance as SLHS continues grow and thrive.”

Judith Goodman, recently retired associate dean for research and former SLHS department chair, will serve as interim chair while Dean Kristofer Hagglund initiates a national search for Dr. Wagovich’s successor.

“Dr. Wagovich has been an incredible asset not only to the SLHS department, but our school as a whole,” Dean Hagglund said. “We are incredibly sad to see her move on, but we wish her well with her new position.”

Dr. Wagovich joined MU in September 2001 and was named department chair in 2017. During her tenure as chair, the program ascended 20 slots to No. 72 out of 261 speech-language pathology programs ranked by U.S News and World Report. Dr. Wagovich was an active partner in Advancement efforts, and several donor-initiated scholarships were developed during this time. In addition, the department expanded clinical programs to include the SLHS Parkinson Speech Program and the summer intensive clinical camps.

An associate professor, Dr. Wagovich has had a vibrant research program focusing on the relationship between stuttering and language development in young children and received federal funding for her research on word learning processes in children with developmental language disorders. She has also championed undergraduate research opportunities for students, developing a schoolwide research apprenticeship program for undergraduates to earn course credit for joining a lab and assisting with research. She received the MU Undergraduate Research Mentorship Award in 2016 and MU Writing Intensive Teaching Excellence award in 2014.