Undergraduate/Preprofessional Program

The educational mission of the Communication Sciences and Disorders program at Harding University is to prepare highly competent speech-language pathologists in a rigorous academic curriculum with an emphasis on Christian living.  The program is designed to reflect the university goal of integrating faith, learning and living in order for the students to function within professional and global communities.

The undergraduate communication sciences and disorders major is pre-professional in nature and is strongly recommended for students planning to pursue a graduate degree and certification by the Council of Academic Accrediation (CAA) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).  Students receive their clinical experience under the supervision of ASHA certified speech-language pathologists.  The program supports the ASHA position that the graduate degree should be the minimum requirement for professional certification.

Undergraduate students must select a minor in some related area. Students may choose to use the undergraduate CSD degree as an entry point into graduate education in areas such as Speech-Language Pathology, Audiology, Deaf Education, Special Education, Reading, Second Language Acquisition, or to work as a Speech-Language Pathology Assistant. If students wish to remain at Harding to obtain a graduate degree, they must apply for admission to the Harding graduate program, even if they earned an undergraduate degree from Harding.  The application process and requirements are specified elsewhere in this online resource and in the CSD handbook.