Candidate for President-Elect: Linda I. Rosa-Lugo, CCC-SLP

Linda I. Rosa-Lugo, EdD, CCC-SLP, BCS-CL, and ASHA Fellow, is a speech-language pathologist (SLP) who has a long-standing commitment to preparing SLPs to provide services to multilingual children, children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH), and individuals with language and literacy needs.

She retired from the University of Central Florida (UCF) in 2022 after holding multiple roles over 27 years, including associate dean in the College of Health Professions and Sciences, founding director of the UCF Listening Center, and faculty member in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders.

Currently, Dr. Rosa-Lugo serves as clinical faculty in the School of Health Professions at SUNY–Stonybrook University and mentors students in the Communication Sciences and Disorders program at MGH Institute of Health Professions. With extensive experience in public schools as a bilingual SLP and an educator of children and adolescents with hearing loss, she has also served as a classroom teacher and a district administrator.

A Distinguished Fellow of the National Academies of Practice (NAP) in speech-language pathology, Dr. Rosa-Lugo has been a strong advocate for interprofessional practice (IPP) and interprofessional education (IPE). She has been awarded collaborative grants from the U.S. Department of Education in several critical areas, including language/literacy, the preparation of SLPs to serve multilingual children with communication disorders, and listening and spoken language intervention for children and adolescents who have hearing loss and who come from diverse homes. Her research and publications have primarily concentrated on enhancing communication outcomes for underserved or marginalized populations.

An active member of ASHA for 30 years, Dr. Rosa-Lugo has been the recipient of multiple recognitions. She is an ASHA Fellow, is a recipient of ASHA’s international achievement award, and was recognized by ASHA and the Council of Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CAPCSD) for her work to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and access. She has served as a site visitor for the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CAA) and as chair of the ASHA/PAHO (Pan American Health Organization) ad hoc committee focusing on the needs of individuals with hearing loss in Central America. She served as president of the Hispanic Caucus and was an active member of two Special Interest Groups (SIGs): SIG 14 (Cultural and Linguistic Diversity) and SIG 17 (Global Issues in Communication Sciences and Related Disorders). Furthermore, she was a member of ASHA’s Board of Directors (BOD), serving as the vice president of Speech-Language Pathology Practice. In that capacity, she acted as the BOD liaison to several ASHA standing Committees, Boards, and Councils, and she monitored and addressed concerns of specific work settings in which the profession of speech-language pathology is practiced.