The Speech-Language Pathology program at Midwestern University, Downers Grove Campus is committed to providing an equitable, inclusive, and supportive environment to all members of the program, college, the University, and the community at large. The Program acknowledges that opportunities exist to expand and enhance educational offerings that address disparities in patient outcomes and recognizes that the unaddressed presence of implicit and explicit bias in healthcare education, specifically in speech-language pathology, contravenes professional and ethical expectations of all students and graduates.
The Program is unequivocal in its support of underrepresented and historically marginalized groups based on several constructs including but not limited to age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender expression and identity, religion, political affiliation, socio-economic background, nationality and physical/intellectual ability. We will actively seek to recruit, mentor, support, and retain individuals from marginalized communities and those underrepresented in the field of speech-language pathology. We acknowledge that diverse ideas and backgrounds are the hallmarks of academic success and productivity. As such, we will strive to foster a welcoming, safe, professional, and intellectual environment for all faculty, staff, and students in the program. We aim to provide equitable clinical, academic, and research opportunities in the field of speech-language pathology to individuals belonging to diverse communities and will contribute to professional efforts to reduce disparities in healthcare related to speech-language pathology.