Aslin, Communication Disorders Instructor, Adds National Award for Advising to His Honors

Photo Submitted

Larry Aslin

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Larry Aslin, an instructor of communication disorders at the University of Arkansas, won three awards for advising this year, most recently the Outstanding Advising Award for 2009 in the faculty category from the National Academic Advising Association.

The National Academic Advising Association, which has more than 10,000 members, promotes the quality of academic advising in institutions of higher education. Aslin will receive the award at the association’s annual conference this fall in San Antonio.

Aslin advises all undergraduates, a total of 142 students in the past academic year, in the communication disorders program in the College of Education and Health Professions. He also directs the university’s Speech and Hearing Clinic, in which undergraduate and graduate students receive clinical experience. He serves as the college’s representative on the University of Arkansas Advising Council.

“I was very surprised and honored when I heard about the award,” Aslin said. He had already been informed earlier in the semester that he was the winner of the college’s annual award for advising and of the University of Arkansas Outstanding Advisor Award for the 2008-09 academic year.

“For anyone at the university, advising is a unique opportunity to get to know the university, their college and their department,” Aslin said. “Being involved in advising is also an opportunity to get to know some really exceptional people, our college advisers, who at this university are literally putting students first.”

Aslin works closely with the college’s Boyer Center for Student Services, which advises undergraduate students in the college until they have completed 45 hours or, in the case of communication disorders, until the final two years of the program.

According to a nomination letter from Barbara Shadden, professor of communication disorders, Aslin has taken over all undergraduate advising in the program to reduce the load for others and to help the students. He developed advising materials, established an open-door policy for students, strengthened ties with the Boyer Center, attended numerous advising workshops, set up the evaluation process for admission to the program, volunteered to teach the First Year Experience course for freshmen and developed the program’s eight-semester plan.

The communication disorders program offers a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree. The master’s degree is the entry-level degree for licensure in the field.

Several students who nominated Aslin for the advising awards cited his dedication to them and their academic progress.

“Mr. Aslin expects nothing but the best from his students and wants to help them achieve this,” said Jennifer Ricketts, an undergraduate. “In doing this, he makes sure students are meeting requirements on time and to the best of their ability. Not only is he a great teacher, getting students involved in class, but he makes you feel part of the CDIS family.”

“I am a returning nontraditional student who was very hesitant to come back to college after 15 years,” said Candy Still, a graduate student. “Upon meeting with Mr. Aslin, I can tell you the fear and hesitancy of returning to college was greatly eased. Mr. Aslin was straightforward on what it would take to make it through the CDIS program; he went through the criteria step by step and was very easy to relate to. … I have had many advisers throughout my college years, and he is by far the most worthy of such an award.”

Shadden commented on Aslin’s approach to advising in her letter of nomination.

“He communicates with an air of authority (reassuring others about the quality and accuracy of his information) but also with remarkable caring and sympathy,” Shadden said. “I have seen or heard him interact with many students, and they invariably leave these interactions feeling that there is someone they can always go to for support and also feeling that they are valued and competent.”

Aslin earned a Bachelor Arts in speech and dramatic arts and a Master of Arts in speech-pathology-audiology, both from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He joined the university faculty in 1975. He is a licensed speech-language pathologist in Arkansas.