In order to prepare its graduate students to become effective speech-language pathologists in Northwest Arkansas, throughout the state of Arkansas and beyond, the Communication Sciences and Disorders Program sends the students into the medical and educational community throughout the state for hands-on experiential learning. This model is critical to the students' knowledge and skill development and is a major aspect of the program's graduate training.

This training model is only made possible through partnerships with speech-language pathologists in Northwest Arkansas and other regions of the state and beyond. When entering these partnerships, Arkansas' strongest speech-language pathologists agree to mentor U of A Communication Sciences and Disorders students.

Because the program's community mentors are so crucial, each year our graduate students nominate top mentors of their year. This award honors outstanding mentorship from one community partner. Students from the graduate program nominate mentors and vote for whom they believe to be most deserving of the honor.

This year, Washington Regional's Carrie Millar has been named the Mentor of the Year. Millar is a highly effective speech-language pathologist and mentor, and the U of A students have learned a great deal under her mentorship.

"Thank you for the honor. A little about me: As mentioned, I have 22 years experience as a medical SLP primarily in acute care. I've worked at Washington Regional for the past 11 years. Prior to moving back to Arkansas, I worked at the Dallas VA Hospital on the Head and Neck Cancer Team as well as the Polytrauma Team treating veterans with mild to moderate TBI. When not at work, you can find me at kids sporting events, hiking trails or reading a good book," Millar said.

Congratulations to Millar on being awarded the 2024 Mentor of the Year by the Communication Sciences and Disorders Program.