November 2025 | College of Applied Health Sciences

Assistant Professor Meaghan McKenna won the 2025 ASHA Early Career Contributions in Research Award. (Provided)

The American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) held the 2025 ASHA Convention from Nov. 20–22 in Washington, D.C.

Our Department of Speech and Hearing Science at Illinois was well-represented: several SHS faculty and graduate students were in attendance to accept awards and present seminars on their research and teaching contributions.

SHS faculty and students’ ASHA Awards

Assistant Professor Meaghan McKenna is being awarded the 2025 ASHA Early Career Contributions in Research Award
Ph.D. student Tracy Preza is being awarded an ASHFoundation Student Research Grant in Early Childhood Language Development
Ph.D. student Eliza Baby and mentor Professor Raksha Mudar are being awarded a Research Mentoring-Pair Travel Award
Ph.D. student Daniela Fanta Alarco is selected for the ASHA Student Leadership Program
M.A. student Raina Harpalani is being awarded an ASHFoundation Graduate Scholarship

SHS faculty and students’ talks

Thursday, Nov. 20

12:30 p.m.—Poster: “Examining the Effectiveness and Feasibility of a WebBased First Grade Writing Intervention”
McKenna, M.
Location: CC/Poster (Hall D); Screen #: 134

4:30 p.m.—Poster: “Measuring Functional Communication in Mild Cognitive Impairment”
Lydon, E., Wallace, N., Mudar, R.
Location: CC/Poster (Hall D); Screen #: 134

6 p.m.—One-hour seminar (Invited): “The Speech Accessibility Project: Reflections on Technological Innovation & Visions for Communication Empowerment”
Mendes, C.
Location: CC/151B (Lvl 1)

Friday, Nov. 21

8 a.m.—One-hour seminar: “Building on Legacy, Transforming Practice: Tools to Support SLP Engagement with Multi-Tiered Systems of Support”
Sylvan, L., McKenna, M., Ireland, M.
Location: CC/202A (Lvl 2)

11 a.m.—One-hour seminar: “Imitation and Lexical Overlap in Toddlers with Language Delays: Automated Coding and Sequential Analysis”
Harrington, E., Hadley, P.
Location: Marr/Independence Salon F/G/H (Mtg Lvl 4, LL)

1:30 p.m.—One-hour seminar (Invited): “Research Symposium on Hearing: The Utility of Extended High-Frequency Hearing and Assessment for Speech Communication”
Monson, B., Calandruccio, L.
Location: CC/151B (Lvl 1)

5:30 p.m.—Technical/Research Presentation: “Practice improvement in swallowing management: Using skill-based training in hospitalized post-stroke patients with dysphagia”
Bahia, M.M., Rogers, K., Carpenter, J., Cherney, L.R.
Location: Marr/Liberty Salon K (Mtg Lvl 4, LL)

Speech and Hearing Science faculty and students gathered at this year’s ASHA conference. (Provided)

Saturday, Nov. 22

11 a.m.—One-hour seminar: “Addressing Elementary Writing When Delivering Intervention: Preparing Young Children for Success in School and Life”
McKenna, M.
Location: CC/204B (Lvl 2)
** Designated as a Centennial Session!

Nov. 6, 2025 | Tia King

Sport teams and other organizations can boost their supporters’ social well-being through digital platforms and other initiatives that promote a strong group identity and feelings of trust that all members have their collective best interests at heart, according to a study led by recreation, sport and tourism professor Yuhei Inoue that included sport fans in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

Professor Yuhei Inoue most recent study with his team shows that consumers’ identification with service organizations, such as sports teams, has a real impact on their social wellbeing. Photo taken at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025. (Photo by Fred Zwicky / University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Sport fans all know that rosy feeling of happiness when we hang out with others who support our favorite team. A new study conducted with sport consumers in the U.S. and the United Kingdom suggests that organizations that want to enhance their supporters’ health and well-being can achieve that by bolstering their social identification with the group.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign recreation, sport and tourism professors Yuhei Inoue and Mikihiro Sato say that social identification with organizations boosts our social well-being — our ability to form and sustain meaningful relationships — by giving us access to three important social and psychological resources: in-group trust, a sense of purpose and meaning, and perceived progroup norms — which are the beliefs that all group members are prioritizing our collective best interests.

Month: November 2025

Illinois Speech and Hearing Science at ASHA 2025

SHS faculty and students’ ASHA Awards

SHS faculty and students’ talks

Social identification with a team boosts fans’ social well-being