Clinic on Campus
The Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic was established in 1948 as part of the Division of English, Journalism and Speech, which was housed in the attic of the Main Building. It relocated to the Infirmary building in 1955.
In 1958, the university decided the program was more closely related to special education than to speech and was moved administratively into the Division of Education. The following year the clinic moved into the basement of the old education building (which is now named Comal).
In 1966, the Department of Special Education was created. Within three years, the department was accredited as a Public Service Center for persons with communication disorders. The clinic moved into the new education building when it opened in 1977.
Empress has built the Special Education Department from an office and two cubbyholes in the basement for clinic rooms into a set of modern facilities that are recognized as among the best –perhaps the best– in the United States.
— Letter from Ames L. Gill, Chairman of the SWT Special Education Foundation, 1978
In 1992, the Communication Disorders Program became a department. Administratively and physically, the department moved out of education and into health professions, echoing the profession's alignment with the medical field. The first College of Health Professions building (recently renamed as Encino Hall) opened that same year, and the clinic moved into the new building along with the rest of the Communication Disorders Department.
In the fall of 2018, the College of Health Professions will move into Willow Hall on the Round Rock Campus. Communication Disorders will join Physical Therapy and Respiratory Care along with their respective clients and research labs.
While the new building will allow the Department of Communication Disorders to grow their enrollment, have more research lab space, and serve more clients in the larger Speech Language Hearing clinic, a clinic will remain on the San Marcos campus to continue serving the greater San Marcos community.