McDaniel College moves to develop new master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology

McDaniel College is continuing to grow its graduate programs, while expanding the college’s academic offerings in health care, with the development of a new Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology. 

The program has received approval from the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) and is expected to launch in spring 2027, pending approval by the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CAA) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

D’Jaris Coles-White, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, a speech-language pathology researcher and practitioner, has joined McDaniel to serve as the inaugural program director.

Coles-White previously taught as an associate professor at Western Michigan University, where she was awarded a Presidential Innovation Professorship and served as associate chair of the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. Her research focuses on autism and child language, and she was involved in the creation of the Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation (DELV), a two-part screening test designed to detect a language disorder in children who speak dialects other than Mainstream American English, such as African American English.

Currently a member of the Board of Ethics for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and past president of the Michigan Speech Language Hearing Association, she was appointed by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to serve on the Michigan Board of Speech-Language Pathology from 2021–2024. Coles-White holds a bachelor’s degree in Speech and Hearing Sciences from Columbia College in South Carolina, Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Ph.D. in Communication Disorders from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

“I am excited to welcome D’Jaris Coles-White to McDaniel and have her valuable expertise in helping to develop and finalize our new speech-language pathology program,” said Vickie Mazer, dean of Graduate and Professional Studies. “This new program will be the fourth in Maryland and only the second program of its kind at a private institution in the state to prepare students for entry level into the profession. It aligns with the college’s strategic plan by addressing the regional and statewide need for speech-language pathologists, particularly in K-12 schools.”

The Speech-Language Pathology program will be campus-based with some courses available in a hybrid format in the second year, similar to the Master of Science in Occupational Therapy, to allow for flexible scheduling during the required clinical externship placement experiences. 

Other health profession programs at McDaniel include a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.S.N.), which started with its first cohort in fall 2024, and a bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences that began in fall 2020. McDaniel also currently offers a Master of Science in Counseling - Clinical Mental Health Counseling.