Rupert’s Story: Stuttering and Building Community in Academia

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Rupert Johnson, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Associate Professor at Nazareth University in the Communication Sciences and Disorders Program, joins host Sara MacIntyre, M.A., CCC-SLP, to discuss his experiences personally and professionally with stuttering.  Dr. Johnson begins by sharing his story and how giving the valedictorian speech in high school was his catalyst for change. He explores what it's like to be someone who stutters in academia within a CSD program, the many benefits as well as the challenges he faces, and how he supports graduate students through their educational and clinical learning journeys to be better equipped to work with those who stutter in a comprehensive and person-centered manner upon graduation. Rupert further discusses the importance and benefits of cultivating community, honoring and making space for intersectionality and one's multiple identities, and more on an affinity group he helped form for CSD students who identify as people of color, 'Speech-language Therapy and Audiology Minority Program (STAMP).'

Rupert's contact information for anyone local to Nazareth University: [e-mail]

Rupert Johnson is an Associate Professor at Nazareth University in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD). He earned his BA in Psychology at Vassar College and M.S. and Ph.D in CSD at Penn State University. Rupert specializes in Stuttering. He teaches the Fluency Disorders grad course at Nazareth and runs the on-campus Stuttering Clinic. In the community, he runs a summer camp for children who stutter (Camp RAYS - Rochester’s Adventure for Youth who Stutter) and serves as a co-chapter leader for Rochester’s chapter of the National Stuttering Association adult support group. He also is one of the co-founders of STAMP (the Speech-language Therapy & Audiology Minority Program), which is an affinity group for racial or ethnic minority students in CSD at Nazareth, and their allies. Rupert’s special interests include investigating the psychosocial aspects of stuttering; advocating for people who stutter; and supporting the recruitment, retention, and success for underrepresented students in CSD.