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Helping people communicate is a calling for second-year Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology student Devin Lukachik.  A nationally certified health care interpreter, Lukachik discovered speech-language pathology while studying Spanish and linguistics as an undergraduate student.

“I think most people don’t realize just what a huge range of things SLPs can do,” he said.

Lukachik received an American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation Graduate Student Scholarship during the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) conference in Seattle in December. The prestigious $5,000 award is one of a number of scholarships Lukachik has received while a student in the program, said Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders Chair Fang-Ling Lu, PhD, CCC-SLP, FASAHP.

“Remarkably, he has secured six scholarships within a 14-month period since joining our program, with two more pending,” Lu said.

Lukachik's elation upon receiving an ASHA Graduate Student Scholarship was well-founded.

“This prestigious award is bestowed upon only a select few speech-language pathology and audiology students nationwide,” Lu said.

The medical focus of the Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology program at ������ convinced Lukachik it was the best fit for him.

“I originally started getting into this for the linguistics aspect, and then I realized all the other things that SLPs can do in the medical field,” he said. “I found neurogenic communication disorders and swallowing disorders so interesting. So, then I decided I really wanted to do a medical focus. ������ was my number one [choice]. It was the only school I applied to.”

Lukachik publishes books on speech-language pathology terminology in English and Spanish that he said are popular among interpreters.

“I still do some interpreting on weekends,” he said.