James Booth Named Chair of the Moody College of Communication's Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders

AUSTIN, Texas – May 5, 2014 – James Booth has been named chair of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at The University of Texas at Austin Moody College of Communication. Booth will take the post vacated by Craig Champlin.

Booth is the Jo Ann G. and Peter F. Dolle Professor in Learning Disabilities at Northwestern University's School of Communication, where he has served as a faculty member since 1998. While at Northwestern University, he has served in many leadership roles within his home department and in interdisciplinary programs. He also is the director of Northwestern's Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, which facilitates research that helps identify, diagnose and treat disabilities in developing brains.

Booth is one of the few cognitive neuroscientists whose research consistently focuses on understanding how the brain develops using advanced neuroimaging methodologies. His recent studies have focused on the brain networks involved in reading acquisition, language development, arithmetic processing and deductive reasoning. Booth also studies how the brain is affected in learning disabilities and attention deficits.

"I am deeply honored to become a member of the esteemed faculty at The University of Texas at Austin," Booth said. "As the oldest program of its kind in the state of Texas, the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders is greatly respected for its high impact work. I hope to build on the tremendous successes of this program. My goals will be to facilitate scholarly productivity, enhance connections with other departments and units at the University, and further integrate research, teaching and clinical activities so that we can train the next generation of scholars in the fields of speech, language and hearing."

A widely-recognized scholar, Booth has received grants from organizations, such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. He has served on federal grant review committees and on editorial boards for major journals. He has published in a breadth of journals relating to his interests in development, cognition and neuroscience. His work has been featured in the popular press and he also has shared his work at conferences and universities around the world. Booth has an impassioned commitment to training the next generation of scientists as evidenced by his extensive mentorship of undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral scholars.

Booth received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park and did his postdoctoral work at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

"James Booth brings an outstanding research, administrative and teaching acumen to his new role," said Moody College of Communication Dean Roderick P. Hart. "He is highly regarded in the cognitive neuroscience field, and is an inspiring mentor to young researchers. I look forward to seeing him lead one of the nation's top programs in communication sciences and disorders to even greater success."


About The University of Texas at Austin Moody College of Communication


One of the nation's foremost institutions for the study of advertising and public relations, communication sciences and disorders, communication studies, journalism and radio-TV-film, The University of Texas at Austin Moody College of Communication is preparing students to thrive in an era of media convergence. Serving more than 4,700 undergraduate and graduate students, the Moody College is nationally recognized for its faculty members, research and student media. For more information about the Moody College, visit http://moody.utexas.edu.

###

Contacts: Laura Byerley, (512) 471-2182.

Laura Byerley
Public Affairs Representative