Elizabeth Carrow-Woolfolk

Elizabeth Carrow-Woolfolk, pioneer in the study of reading and language theory and assessment, has been named the 2005-06 College of Communication Outstanding Alumnus.

Carrow-Woolfolk earned a bachelor's degree at Our Lady of the Lake College (now University) in San Antonio before earning a master's degree at The University of Texas at Austin and a doctorate at Northwestern University. She also headed the program in speech pathology and audiology at The University of Texas at Austin.

Carrow-Woolfolk founded the Harry Jersig Speech and Hearing Center, one of the first freestanding university speech and language clinics in the country, before eventually becoming head of speech pathology services at Houston's Methodist, St. Luke's Episcopal and Texas Children's hospitals. Using her own theoretical approach Carrow-Woolfolk developed several widely used assessment instruments, including the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language, the Oral and Written Language Survey and the Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language, all of which continue to be used around the world. She has also written more than a dozen books, including “Learning to Read," “Language Theory: Assessment and Intervention” and “An Integrative Approach to Language Disorders in Children."

Currently Carrow-Woolfolk is engaged in revising the Oral and Written Language Survey language test she developed, writing a book about Mexican history and promoting her most recent book, "Pioneers, Patriots and Planters," a 200-year, historic narrative of the Woolfolk family's migration to become first settlers of the early southern states. She is also currently a member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

“I appreciate the honor the College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin is giving me,” said Carrow-Woolfolk. “I treasure having been a student of language all my life and being rewarded for having shared my passion with others.”