Media Advisory for Thursday, October 30
Gertz Hall | 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
RSVP to Linda.Pacheco@qc.cuny.edu
Queens College Ribbon-Cutting to Reopen Renovated Gertz Hall, Which Houses the College’s Prestigious Speech Language Hearing Center
What: A ribbon-cutting to reopen renovated Gertz Hall, which houses the college’s Speech Language Hearing Center. A unique, highly respected program, the center prepares graduate students to become speech language pathologists and furthers knowledge about communication disorders and their effective assessment and treatment. It also provides quality clinical services in assessment and treatment to community members with communication disorders. Upgrades and modern advancements include the creation of additional space and treatment rooms, improvements to heating/cooling systems, and technological upgrades that allow for enhanced teaching, clinical education, and research opportunities, enabling the center to remain a competitive and highly sought-after training and treatment facility.
Faculty members and second-year student volunteers will conduct tours of the newly renovated facility and answer questions about it and the profession of speech language pathology. Several rooms are set up for therapy; students will be able to describe the materials present and how a therapy session may unfold.
Who: Moderator Queens College President Frank H. Wu will welcome invited speakers, including Sima Gerber, Queens College professor and associate chair for Speech-Language Pathology and Communication Sciences and Disorders; Robert Rodriguez, Dormitory Authority of the State of New York President; Donovan Richards Jr., Queens Borough President; Melinda Katz, Queens District Attorney; Mohamed Attala, CUNY Vice Chancellor of Design, Construction, and Management; Sean Moonsammy, Speech Language Pathology program alumnus; and Olivia Jablonski, second-year student in the master’s program for Speech Language Pathology.
Where: Queens College | 65-30 Kissena Boulevard, Flushing, NY 11367 | Directions | Campus Map
Sean Moonsammy is a professionally trained opera singer, voice-specializing speech-language pathologist, and singing voice teacher. After earning his master’s degree in opera performance at QC and serving as a backup singer for Elton John and Josh Groban, Moonsammy returned to the college to enroll in the graduate program of Speech Language Pathology. He then completed his doctorate at Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions and now works on singing voice rehabilitation and habilitation, gender-affirming voice care, and upper airway disorders.
Olivia Jablonski, a first-generation Polish American, has been utilizing her bilingual skills while training at the Speech Language Hearing Center, providing supervised voice therapy for clients presenting with Parkinson’s Disease, and counseling family members and caregivers in Polish. Her internship is focused on students who need augmentative and alternative means to communicate. Upon graduation, Jablonski plans to pursue a bilingual extension certificate in Polish; she is considering pursuing a PhD.
Background
The Speech Language Hearing Center in Gertz Hall houses Queens College’s graduate education program in Speech Language Pathology and offices for many of the program’s faculty. The center also serves as a laboratory for graduate students, undergraduate students in communication sciences and disorders, and faculty involved in applied clinical research. Children and adults with speech and language needs are served by American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)-certified and NYS-licensed speech language pathologists, who provide direct assessment and treatment services along with one-to-one clinical mentorship for assigned graduate students.
The center provides comprehensive assessment and treatment services for clients with a wide range of speech and language needs, including acquired language disorders (aphasia, traumatic brain injury), articulation therapy, apraxia of speech, language production and/or processing difficulties, literacy (reading, writing), stuttering/speech fluency, voice therapy, and communication enhancement services for those who are interested modifying an accent or improving English language intelligibility. It also offers a specialty program for people with Parkinson’s; Reclaiming Your Voice is an effective speech therapy program designed to help people with Parkinson’s improve their communication skills.
For more information, visit the Speech Language Hearing Center homepage.
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