Whitney White

radford_home_features_whitney

Radford, VA
Major
: Speech language pathology in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in the Waldron College of Health and Human Services
Campus Involvement
: Student coordinator for a prevention and awareness project called Project Sprout, sponsored by Radford University

Radford University has always been part of Whitney White’s life. Growing up on a farm in the New River Valley with an aunt who was a Radford graduate and a father and grandmother who worked at the university, White says she grew up attending sports events and wearing RU gear. When it was time for her to decide which college to attend, she knew Radford would be her educational home.

After earning a bachelor’s degree at Radford in business management in 2007, she began working with the Women’s Resource Center of the New River Valley (WRC). It was there that she realized she wanted to pursue a master’s degree in communications sciences and disorders (COSD).

“I ran the emergency shelter children’s program at WRC and became fascinated with the speech and language of the clients,” she said. “I began to realize that I was working with individuals who had communication disorders and were unserved or underserved. I felt drawn to help them.”

In her final year of graduate studies, White is serving as a graduate assistant for Corey Cassidy, associate dean in the Waldron College of Health and Human Services. She is also the student coordinator for a university-sponsored prevention and awareness project called Project Sprout. The project, which is spearheaded by COSD students and directed by Cassidy, provides services to children up to five years old and their families who are experiencing homelessness.

White is also working to complete her thesis, “The effects of motivation and training schedule on self-efficacy and knowledge” and will be presenting it as a poster at the Speech-language and Hearing Association of Virginia Conference this year. She is also completing her last off-campus clinical practicum at Riverlawn Elementary School in nearby Fairlawn.

After graduation, White hopes to obtain a position as a medically based speech-language pathologist and one day open her own practice.