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UK Great Teacher Spotlight VIDEO: Richard Andreatta

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 10, 2017) — For University of Kentucky College of Health Sciences professor Richard Andreatta winning the 2017 Great Teacher Award is especially significant.

It's not about the recognition, the winning stipend or even the chance to walk onto the floor of Rupp Arena. 

You see, Andreatta has a disorder that affects his speech. 

"As a person who stutters, having an award for doing an action that involves public speaking is a huge deal," Andreatta said. 

Watch the video above to discover how this professor is impacting his students by teaching them lessons that will help them treat patients of their own in the near future. 

About Richard Andreatta:

Andreatta is an associate professor in the Division of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) and in the Rehabilitation Sciences Doctoral Program, both located within the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences in the College of Health Sciences. He is also a faculty associate with the Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center at UK HealthCare. Currently, Andreatta serves as the director of undergraduate studies for the CSD program and as the director of graduate studies for the Rehabilitation Sciences Doctoral Program.

Andreatta is also director of the Laryngeal and Speech Dynamics Lab. This shared facility contains several specialized hardware and software systems for testing, recording and analyzing orofacial sensory perception, orofacial muscle force, vocal tract aerodynamics, and trigemino-facial brainstem-level evoked reflexes. Other capabilities of the lab include stroboscopic laryngeal imaging (ridged and flex-scoping), EGG, acoustic analyses of speech, and respiratory kinematics. 

Andreatta received his doctoral degree in speech physiology and neuroscience in 1999 from Indiana University Bloomington. Postdoctoral work in animal laryngeal neurophysiology was completed at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

The Great Teacher Award, started in 1961, is the longest-running University of Kentucky award recognizing teaching. In order to receive the award, educators must first be nominated by a student. The UK Alumni Association Great Teacher Award Committee, in cooperation with the student organization Omicron Delta Kappa, then makes the final selections. Recipients receive an engraved plaque and a monetary reward.

The UK Alumni Association is a membership supported organization committed to fostering lifelong engagement among alumni, friends, the association and the university. For more information about the UK Alumni Association or to become a member, visit www.ukalumni.net or call 1-800-269-2586.

 

 

Photo of Shannon Sodergren, student, with Richard Andreatta, professor
Richard Andreatta Is Honored with the 2017 Great Teacher Award