The ASHA Leader - February 2015 - (Page 22)

in THe LimeLigHT Education Dedication Eleanor Silverman devotes her considerable energy to promoting and supporting higher education. By Shelley D. hutchinS name: Eleanor Silverman, MA, CCC-SLP title: Clinical associate professor, Department of Neurology, New York University School of Medicine contact: eleanorsil@me.com Eleanor Tobis Silverman lives just blocks from Central Park-a prime location that allows her to walk to the college courses she takes at Fordham University and easily indulge in the nearby arts scene. The mother of two also does pro bono work to help foreignborn professors with effective communication and she reviews papers submitted by students at City College of New York who receive research scholarships. It'd be a busy schedule for anyone, but consider this: Silverman, a "retired" speechlanguage pathologist, is about to celebrate her 97th birthday. Her lengthy career includes stints as a college professor, clinical researcher, health department consultant, private practitioner and schoolbased SLP. Oh, and those research scholarships? They're in her name. Having a packed schedule is nothing new to Silverman. Once her children were in school all day, this daughter of a well-educated European immigrant went back to school to complete the six hours she needed for her master's in speechlanguage pathology. In addition to earning her master's from Brooklyn College in 1953, Silverman ended up also doing all of the coursework for her doctorate, but "I never finished my thesis," she chuckles. Her father was the reason she went into communication sciences disorders. "One morning before 22 February 2015 | THe aSHa Le aDer school, when I was about 7," she shares, "he asked me to go upstairs and get him a tin cup. I searched and searched and couldn't find a tin cup, so I came downstairs very frustrated, until he explained that he wanted a thin cup." That minor miscommunication inspired her to become an SLP. Her father's high regard for education motivated her to a 63-year career in the Great Neck, New York, school system, Hofstra University, Nassau County Department of Health, New York University and The City College of New York. Among her many career highlights, Silverman recounts years at NYU as some of her favorite. She taught in the dentistry and neurology departments for nearly two decades. In addition to her teaching, Silverman worked with her husband-a prosthodontist and and eventual chief of the prosthodontics department of the dentistry school-on developing a cleft palate clinic. She consulted for teams developing dental prostheses, advising them on shape and thickness to help patients correctly articulate. "My husband and I married speech to dentistry," Silverman says. One of her proudest achievements came after moving into the neurology department, however. "I helped start the school's first speech and language clinic with audiologist Alice Berkowitz," Silverman declares. Silverman worked in NYU's Department of Neurology until her official retirement just a few years ago. During her tenure there she focused on communication issues and recovery treatments for people with traumatic brain injuries. Silverman directed the speech and hearing clinic, conducted clinical research, taught, contributed to professional publications, gave professional and public presentations, and participated on panels-all driven by the "goal of furthering the profession of speech and language pathology." Educating and mentoring future CSD professionals remains one of Among her many career highlights, Silverman recounts years at nyu as some of her favorite.

The ASHA Leader - February 2015

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