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Join Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences as we thank and recognize Dr. Pélagie (Pagie) Beeson for her 10 years of service as Department Head. Her leadership, dedication, and academic excellence have had a significant impact on students, faculty, staff, and individuals with aphasia and other communication disorders who are a part of the SLHS community.
42 Years of Dedication to the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences
Pagie joined the University of Arizona in 1979 as a doctoral student and has been an integral part of SLHS ever since. She has been a student, Clinical Supervisor and Program Coordinator in the American Indian Professional Training Program in Speech Pathology & Audiology, Research Speech-Language Pathologist, Research Scientist, and Professor with a joint appointment in both SLHS and the Department of Neurology. From 2011-2021, she led SLHS as Department Head. During her successful career, Pagie has received the Distinguished Career Teaching Award from the College of Science, the Faculty Award for Outstanding Contribution to Native American Students, became a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, has taught and mentored hundreds of students, published numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed papers, and has presented at scientific conferences and professional workshops all over the world.
Although her tenure as Department Head has ended, Pagie continues to serve SLHS as a professor committed to the education of future speech-language pathologists and scientists, and as the director of the Aphasia Research Project, dedicated to understanding and treating acquired language disorders in adults.
10 Years as Department Head
During Pagie’s term as Department Head, she completed two Academic Program Reviews for the department and two Department Accreditation Renewals from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, all while heading up a department with two graduate programs that consistently ranked among the top 10 in the United States.
Among her many accomplishments as Department Head, Pagie oversaw numerous beautification projects both inside and outside the SLHS building. Classrooms, offices, and community spaces in the department were updated and improved under Pagie’s supervision. Her goal was to make SLHS more attractive and functional for teaching, learning, and above all, communicating. Under Pagie’s leadership, the SLHS building became a more comfortable place for all!
Why a Table?
Many times over the years, Pagie has commented on an outdoor space that she thinks would make a good seating area or lunch spot for the SLHS community. This area, on the northwest corner of the SLHS building near the clinic entrance, is shaded and surrounded by foliage. It would indeed be a nice spot for faculty, staff, or students to take a break, or for families to relax while awaiting their loved ones in the clinic. Creating such a space, with an accessible picnic table, seems like the perfect way to honor Pagie’s legacy as SLHS Department Head.
Your Gift in Honor of Pagie will Benefit the SLHS Community!
Your gift will create a lovely, wheelchair accessible eating and seating area for our students, clients, faculty, and staff. The table will be located under the crape myrtle and vitex trees just outside the SLHS building. This honorary lunch table will include an engraved plaque with Pagie’s name and years of service as Department Head (2011-2021) to serve as a meaningful tribute that all can enjoy for years to come. Any money raised in excess of the funding for the table will go toward Pagie’s continued aphasia research.
Pagie Beeson’s Impact on Others
“The more I learn about my new responsibilities as Department Head, the more I appreciate the work Pagie did for all those years. Hers are truly big shoes to fill.”- Mary Alt, PhD, CCC-SLP, Department Head of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, The University of Arizona
“Pagie’s service and commitment to the SLHS Department, the College of Science, and the University of Arizona have always been admirable. During her tenure as Department Head, I was in awe of Pagie’s ability to juggle administrative duties while maintaining her dedication to (and passion for) her research endeavors, teaching, and the field of speech-language pathology. Somehow, she also managed to find time for colleagues, friends, and her lovely family. She is Super Woman, and truly deserving of this tribute!” – Kindle Rising (M.S., UArizona ‘00), Pagie’s longtime colleague and collaborator
“Pagie is my mentor in school, work, and life. She is the reason I went to the U of A for my Master’s degree, and the reason that I decided to stay for a Ph.D. and pursue a research career. She is a brilliant clinician and scientist and a wonderful, kind human being. I can’t thank her enough for all of the ways she has taught me, guided me, and inspired me. Congrats to Pagie on her many accomplishments as Department Head!” - Dr. Maya L. Henry, Associate Professor, Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin. (Ph.D., UArizona ’03 '09)
“Pagie is an incredibly hard-working professor, administrator, and researcher. Her dedication to this profession is evident and her enthusiasm unwavering. Even with all her many responsibilities she always has time to speak with faculty, staff, and students and genuinely cares about the individual.” - Kim Sasser, SLHS Administrative Assistant and Building Manager
Thank you for your generosity as we honor Pagie for her 10 years of dedicated leadership and service to SLHS!
Speech, Language, & Hearing Sciences
1131 E. 2nd Street
Tucson, AZ 85721-0071
520-621-1644
# of building beautification projects supervised over the past 10 years
# of sections, appendices, tables and figures in the 2020 Academic Program Review document
Dr. Beeson's undergraduate course SLHS 207 – Human Communication & Its Disorders
Dr. Beeson's graduate course SLHS 544 – Adult Language Disorders I: Aphasia, Alexia, Agraphia
