Retired Montclair State Professor Gets NJSHA Honor

From the New Jersey Speech-Language-Hearing Association: Gerard L. Caracciolo, professor emeritus at Montclair State University, has received the "Honors of the Association" from the New Jersey Speech-Language-Hearing Association (NJSHA) for his decades of longstanding work and meaningful service to the profession.

“Honors of the Association” is the highest recognition NJSHA bestows.

Dr. Caracciolo, a Montclair resident who is president of NJSHA, has a distinguished reputation as a speech-language practitioner, academician and clinical educator. NJSHA awarded him for numerous contributions to the field through his grants, research, publications and presentations.

Dr. Caracciolo has worked at both the state and national levels. He served as a Governor Appointee to the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Advisory Committee of the state Division of Consumer Affairs, responsible for the regulation of the profession through state licensure and ethical practice standards.

He has also served on several committees and boards within NJSHA, where he received the NJSHA Distinguished Professional Service Award. He also served the American Speech Language Hearing Association with distinction, which contributed to him being awarded an ASHA Fellow.

Dr. Caracciolo has enjoyed a career that included service in the public schools, early intervention, healthcare, private practice and academia. He provided clinical services pertaining to a range of disorders across the age continuum. His reputation earned him an invitation to be the first alumnus to join the Montclair State University’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Into his career, he was recognized for the Outstanding Alumnus Award.

“NJSHA has always been my professional’ university,” Dr. Caracciolo said. “It has taught me leadership, advocacy, organizational management, public relations and ethics education. In addition, it has kept me in touch with current professional issues and practices.

“Above all,” he added, “the Association has given me a network of wonderful colleagues who help to make NJSHA a premiere professional state association. I am also beholden to the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) for enriching the texture of my professional life in ways that I cannot even begin to count.”

Dr. Caracciolo has taught a range of communication disorders courses, school-focused courses and clinical courses. He developed an expertise in professional ethics from his work in ASHA and NJSHA. He infused ethics into his courses and clinical seminars, while serving in a number of supervisory and administrative capacities. Dr.Caracciolo has also served as the Director of Graduate Studies in Communication Sciences and Disorders.

Dr. Caracciolois is a former Research Associate in Clinical Supervision, Department of Behavioral Sciences/Communication Sciences and Disorders Program, Teachers College at Columbia University. His expertise in clinical supervision was expressed through his development of supervisory training programs and tools.

He recently completed two terms as the NJSHA President and will assume the office of Immediate Past President.

Photo courtesy of the New Jersey Speech-Language-Hearing Association