Inglebret named fellow of speech-language-hearing group

PULLMAN, Wash. – Ella Inglebret, associate professor in speech and hearing sciences at Washington State University, has been named a fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and will be presented with a certificate Nov. 18 at the ASHA annual convention in San Diego.
 
Fellowship is one of the highest honors that ASHA bestows; it recognizes outstanding contributions to the discipline of communication sciences and disorders.
 
Inglebret, who joined the WSU department of speech and hearing sciences in 1989, has demonstrated unwavering commitment to the needs of Native American students, both as speech and hearing clients and as future speech and hearing clinicians.
 
“Ella’s research designing programs that foster the success of Native American students and advancing the delivery of effective and culturally appropriate speech-language services to Native Americans and their communities has led her to the top of her field,” said Gail Chermak, professor and chair of the WSU departmet of speech and hearing sciences. “Inglebret’s work is innovative, forward-thinking, timely and has truly impacted the field.”
 
Chermak was elected an ASHA fellow in 2002 and WSU Professor Emeritus Robert Potter is also an ASHA fellow.
 
Inglebret was nominated for the honor by Carol Westby, Ph.D., a consultant for Bilingual Multicultural Services in Albuquerque. N.M., and an internationally renowned scholar in the field of speech-language pathology.
 
“I can’t think of anyone in our field who has more of an understanding of Native American students and higher education,” Westby said. “If you are working with Native Americans, you need to talk with Ella.”
 
Inglebret is distinctive for the way that she has worked collaboratively with tribal leaders to create programs and protocols that are research-based, useful to clinicians in the field and sensitive to issues specific to Native American students.
 
Selena Galaviz, one of Inglebret’s former students, said she couldn’t think of anyone more deserving of the honor. Galaviz, who is doing a clinical fellowship at a skilled nursing facility in Lewiston, Idaho, said Inglebret was a fantastic speech-language pathologist, teacher and mentor.
 
“She really believes in what she does and she is so passionate about it,” Galaviz said. She said she appreciated Inglebret’s ability to figure out what was holding people  back, research that and put forth new ideas to try. “She’s the whole package,” Galaviz said.
 
In 2007, Inglebret and D. Michael Pavel (CHiXapkaid) a former colleague at WSU, wrote “The American Indian and Alaska Native Student’s Guide to College Success.” They created a research-based model  called “The Circle of Success” to serve as a guide for promoting Native American student success. The National Indian Education Association called it “an invaluable tool.”
 
Her research interests include cultural factors that affect the learning and communication processes, speech-language diagnostic and intervention practices used with culturally and linguistically diverse populations, and factors underlying success of Native American students in higher education.
 
ASHA is the professional, scientific and credentialing association for 145,000 members and affiliates who are speech-language pathologists, audiologists and speech, language and hearing scientists in the U.S. and internationally.
 
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Media contacts:
Ella Inglebret, einglebret@wsu.edu, 509-335-1019 (Pullman) or 509-368-6888 (Spokane)
Judith Van Dongen, jcvd@wsu.edu, 509-358-7524