March 29, 2024
Annapolis, US 39 F

Summit School head named to ASHA board

Dr Mele-McCarthy
Dr Mele-McCarthy

Dr. Joan A. Mele-McCarthy, CCC-SLP, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) as the Vice President for Government Relations and Public Policy and will serve a three-year term.  ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 173,070 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, speech, language, and hearing scientists, audiology and speech-language pathology support personnel, and students.

Dr. Mele-McCarthy is the Executive Director of The Summit School, a not-for-profit, private school for bright students with dyslexia and other learning differences located in Edgewater, MD.  She has been affiliated with The Summit School since 1990 but took a leave for three years to serve as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in the U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C., an appointed position. She has a national perspective on general education and special education as a result of her policy work on the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004).

As the Vice President for Government Relations and Public Policy for ASHA, one of Dr. Mele-McCarthy’s responsibilities will be initiating appropriate recommendations for legislative, regulatory, and other public policy activities and initiatives concerning the welfare of audiologists and speech-language pathologists and individuals with communication and related disorders.  As the Board Liaison for several committees, Dr. Mele-McCarthy will be charged with promoting education, understanding, and support among the public, governmental and nongovernmental bodies, and among members of other professions regarding the needs and rights of individuals with communication disorders.

“I am honored to be elected for this position on the ASHA Board of Directors,” expressed Dr. Mele-McCarthy. “I hope to promote and further ASHA’s mission to advance the field for its members and those they serve during my tenure on the board.”

Dr. Mele-McCarthy was recognized as a Fellow of ASHA in 2013 and received the prestigious Roland J. Van Hattum Award in 2006 from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation, the non-profit arm of ASHA.

For more information about the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), visit www.asha.org.  For more information about The Summit School, visit www.thesummitschool.org.

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