GROWING OUR FOOTPRINT

UTLA AND UTNY PROGRAMS RESUME POST-PANDEMIC

This past year saw a resurgence for UT Austin’s UTNY and UTLA programs, where students travel to the country’s two premier cities of New York and Los Angeles to work and study. Both programs had setbacks during the pandemic, with the UTLA program moving remote and UTNY shuttering completely. Last year, both programs resumed fully in person and saw record-breaking enrollment numbers, with more Moody College students participating than ever before. Students gained industry experience through internships with some of the biggest entertainment and media companies, including Warner Bros. Animation, HBOMax, the Walt Disney Company and CNN. Speakers included Edward Knight, the vice chairman of NASDAQ; Jennifer Birkofer, the vice president of commerce for NBCUniversal; and Sara Eisen, anchor of Closing Bell on CNBC.

UT Austin’s UT in Los Angeles and UT in New York programs resumed fully in person in fall 2021.

UT Austin’s UT in Los Angeles and UT in New York programs resumed fully in person in fall 2021.

UTNY and UTLA are in full swing and growing as we work to put the impact of COVID-19 behind us.”
Michael Wilson, Executive Director of UTLA and UTNY

BLANK CENTER EXPANDS TO ATLANTA, WITH PROGRAMS PLANNED WORLDWIDE

The Arthur M. Blank Center for Stuttering Education and Research was established at Moody College in 2020 to help people who stutter better communicate. And its model is now expanding worldwide.

Last year, the Blank Center opened its new Atlanta satellite location with the support of an additional $12.25 million grant from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation awarded to Dr. Courtney Byrd, Founding and Executive Director of the Blank Center for Stuttering Education and Research and a professor in Moody College’s Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. The Atlanta satellite has been providing daily therapy services at no cost to participants since July 2021, using Byrd’s evidence-based approach that says fluency is not required for effective communication and includes modalities like mindfulness and self-compassion.

Since opening, the Atlanta satellite has partnered with every historically Black college in the Greater Atlanta and Georgia area, as well Emory University, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, University of West Georgia and Agnes Scott to train students, faculty and clinicians and to establish research collaborations that will help ensure that Byrd’s model becomes the standard of care. The center also hosted two “Camp Dream. Speak. Live.” programs, an annual intensive therapy program for children who stutter. People from across the state and nation participated. The Blank Center also offered programs in the Netherlands, Malta, Ireland and Belgium and has more planned in the coming years, including in Portugal and South Africa.

The mission of the Atlanta satellite center is the same as the leading center: to generate new knowledge, provide student and professional training and scale treatment to increase access to quality care. Atlanta’s is one of many satellite centers planned over the next decade, including four in the U.S. and six around the world.