About the Woolfolk School
The Our Lady of the Lake University Board of Trustees announced the naming of the Elizabeth Carrow Woolfolk and Robert M. Woolfolk School of Communication Sciences and Disorders (Woolfolk School) on its San Antonio campus in late 2016.
The Woolfolk School is home to OLLU's bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders. The Communication Sciences and Disorders Department has been in existence since 1955 and was one of the earliest programs in communication disorders established in Texas. Additionally, OLLU was the first institution in the state of Texas to combine professional training with clinical service with the creation of the Harry Jersig Speech-Language-Hearing Center in 1960.
The establishment and naming of the school recognizes OLLU alumna Dr. Elizabeth Carrow Woolfolk's achievements as a leader in the field of communication sciences. She dedicated her professional life to the study of language theory and assessment and has been internationally recognized as a scholar, author of a dozen books and language tests, clinician and researcher in the field.
The late Dr. Woolfolk, a native of Houston, Texas, authored multiple editions of the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL™), the Oral and Written Language Scales (OWLS™) test, the Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language (TACL™) and co-authored (with Amber Klein, PhD) the Oral Passage Understanding Scale (OPUS™) assessment. She wrote "An Integrative Approach to Language Disorders in Children" (with Joan Lynch), "Theory, Assessment and Intervention in Language Disorders: An Integrative Approach," and, "Learning to Read." She served six years as editor of the Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, wrote a number of book chapters, and had many articles published in professional journals. She served on numerous committees of the American Speech, Language and Hearing Association and of the Texas Speech and Hearing Association, having led the latter organization as president.
After graduating from OLLU, she earned a master's degree at the University of Texas at Austin and a doctoral degree at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. After founding and leading for 19 years the communications sciences and disorders program at OLLU and its Harry Jersig Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic, she continued her work at Baylor Medicine. She then founded speech pathology services at Methodist, St. Luke's, and Texas Children's Hospitals in Houston. Woolfolk received the Outstanding Alumna Award from the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin and the Distinguished Alumna Award from Our Lady of the Lake University.
The late Robert Woolfolk was a retired chemical engineer and graduate of Tulane University whose career is marked by a number of innovations in offshore gas production that significantly impacted economic and environmental factors worldwide. After retirement, he became an entrepreneur in the oil and gas industry and in managed health care, as well as an author.
Dr. Woolfolk once said, "I am grateful for the opportunity of giving back to my profession a portion of what it has given me -- through the excellence of its academic instructors and through the scholarly influences of the researchers and clinicians whom I call colleagues and friends."
The Dr. Betty Carrow-Woolfolk Historical Collection and archives are maintained in the Harry Jersig Speech-Language-Hearing Center.
CSD Program Highlights
- Sister Mary Arthur Carrow (Woolfolk), PhD, Founder and Director of Harry Jersig Center and Jersig School of Communication Disorders from 1960-1968
- John P. Moncur, PhD, Director of Harry Jersig Center and Jersig School of Communication Disorders from 1968-1970
- Sister Lourdes Leal, PhD, Director of Harry Jersig Center and Jersig School of Communication Disorders from 1971-1983
- Patricia Myers, EdD, Chair from 1970-1973
- Edward E. Ferrier, PhD, Chair from 1974–1977 Jersig School of Communication Disorders
- Jane Davidson, Director of Clinical Services from 1975-1991; in 1991-92 Ms. Davidson’s title was changed to “Clinical Coordinator”
- Hanna R. Bell, PhD, Director (Chair) Program of Communication Disorders from 1982-1985.
- Earlene Tash Paynter, PhD, Director of Communication Disorders Program from 1985-1989.
- Anthony P. Salvatore, PhD, Clinic Director/Chair, Program in Communication and Learning Disorders from 1989-1996
- Mary Ann Acevedo, PhD, Clinic Director and Department Chair from 1996-2009; Department Chair 2009-2010
- Mary Ruth Fernandez, PhD, Clinic Coordinator from 2009-2010
- Eva E. Nwokah, PhD, Department Chair from 2010-2018
- Rosa Lydia Martinez, MS, Director of Clinical Education from 2010-present
- Elizabeth Carrow Woolfolk and Robert M. Woolfolk School of Communication Sciences and Disorders established - 2016
- Patti Solomon-Rice, PhD, Inaugural Director, Woolfolk School of Communication Sciences and Disorders from 2019-2023
- Christine Carmichael, PhD, Director, Woolfolk School of Communication Sciences and Disorders from 2023-present