The Department of Biobehavioral Sciences offers programs that focus on the application of the biological, physiological, behavioral, and sociocultural sciences underlying human communication, movement/kinesiology, and their disorders to clinical, educational and community settings.
The scientific knowledge obtained from research in each of these specialized fields is applied to enhance the educational, functional, and communicative capabilities and health of people of all ages and heath status — whether able-bodied or disabled. The department provides opportunities for interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary work across professional boundaries.
Graduates of our master’s programs assume professional roles in educational, health-related, and community agency settings as speech-language pathologists, exercise physiologists, health professionals, physical education teachers, occupational therapists, and physical therapists and more.
Our doctoral graduates are prepared for university faculty positions, administrative positions in field-based settings, and may also pursue careers in research.
The department maintains clinics and laboratories to support the teaching and research components of the programs. These facilities include the Edward D. Mysak Clinic for Communication Disorders, as well as a number of laboratories in applied (exercise) physiology, motor learning, kinematics, language and cognition, adaptive communication technologies, and neuroscience.
The master’s degree program in Communication Sciences and Disorders is accredited by the Council on Academic Accreditation of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).