CSHA History

CSHA is now old enough to have had a history. At a recent CSHA Foundation meeting we realized that current recipients would not be familiar with the names of any of the people that the scholarships are named after. Perhaps this would be a good opportunity to tell you about some of our honored past members. Geraldine Garrison was the CT. State Consultant in Speech for over thirty years. She was stalwart in her belief that slps had a critical role to play in the schools of Connecticut and worked tirelessly to fulfill he goal of every child receiving the intervention that he needed. Ken Gist is a Professor emeritus of Southern Connecticut State University. He was the director of the clinic and one of the founders of the Connecticut Speech and Hearing Foundation. He served as a member of the CSHA Board and represented us on the ASHA Legislative Council for over twenty years.

There are many other people who have had long and dedicated roles to play in making CSHA the strong and vibrant organization that it is. I can mention only a few. Merle Aronin, the cofounder and long time president of the CSHA Foundation comes to mind. I clearly remember sitting in my living room with Tom Giolas and Marie Love Johnson when we outlined strategies to get licensure legislation passed in Connecticut. The unfailing support of the late Gene Powers, Department Chair at UConn was critical to our early success. Gene attended CSHA Conventions and did a very impressive lindy hop at our 20th Anniversary Dance. We would not be where we are without the work done by Caroline Isakson in the State Department on our behalf. For many years, until her recent retirement, she was the go-to person for every sort of issue related to service delivery and certification. No one enjoyed CSHA or ASHA work more than our late colleague Bob Jirsa who did it with great energy and seriousness of purpose.

Click here to see a complete list of CSHA Presidents.