New Mexico State University’s College of Education will dedicate the Edgar R. Garrett Speech and Hearing Center at 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 31, as part of its Homecoming celebration.

Garrett began his career at NMSU in 1948 and was the founder of the Communication Disorders Program and the Speech and Hearing Center. A pioneer in the field of speech-language pathology, he was nationally recognized for his work with articulation disorders and clinical practice.

The Garrett family and alumni of the communication disorders program are working to raise $1 million to establish an endowment for the center to fund scholarships for clients, increase outreach and provide additional supervision for speech pathology students and interns. Garrett’s late wife, Nancy, his sons, Billy and John, and daughters, Maggie Locatelli and Martha Garrett, have committed the first $10,000 to the effort.

John Garrett, a New Mexico artist, also has donated a piece of art to hang in the center to honor his father. The 60- by 60-inch piece, inspired by traditional quilts, is composed of 100 six-inch squares constructed from various materials including metal, paper, fabric, plastic and wood.

“Some of the squares are specific to memories of my dad, others are more abstract,” John said.

Billy Garrett, an architect, also is adding his assistance to the center by working with them to identify phrases and words that reflect Edgar’s philosophies and will be largely displayed on the walls of the center.

“This gives form in a permanent way to the ideas that are part of my dad’s living legacy. This is what he believed in and what he did,” Billy said.

A man of many talents, Garrett first served NMSU as the director/technical director of the Coronado Playmakers in the English Department and then as director of the Speech and Hearing Center, located at that time in the English Department. He was appointed head of the Speech Department in 1965, a position that he held for 19 years. From 1969 to 1971, he also served as assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in addition to his department head and academic responsibilities.

Garrett became director of the Communication Disorders Program in the Speech Department in 1984. The following year, the Communication Disorders Program moved to the Special Education/Communication Disorders Department in the College of Education, where it remains today.

Garrett was a Fellow of the New Mexico Speech-Language Hearing Association (NMSHA) and served as president of NMSHA in 1966 and 1967. From 1952 until his retirement in 1990, Garrett’s efforts helped develop an exemplary program in communication sciences and disorders. He established a national presence in the discipline, not only coordinating the growth of clinical services within the university, but also across the state and nation.

His children attribute his career successes to his belief that you must always continue to learn. This philosophy was summed up in his own words during his acceptance speech for the 1974-75 Westhafer Award, when he said, “Teaching hyphen learning is a single, on-going, ever-changing process.”

The NMSU Speech and Hearing Center provides diagnostic and therapeutic services to Southern New Mexico and is equipped with the latest technology in the fields of audiology and speech-language pathology. Graduate students in the NMSU Communications Disorders Program provide all of the center’s services. Students are supervised by program faculty who are certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the New Mexico Speech-Language Pathology, Audiology and Hearing Aid Dispensing Practices Board. The center also provides individual and group therapy sessions as well as summer communication camps for children in the community.

For more information about the dedication ceremony, call Pat Conn, NMSU College of Education assistant dean for advancement, at (575) 646-2130.

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Photos are available at
http://ucommphoto.nmsu.edu/newsphoto/garrett_john_02.jpg
CUTLINE: New Mexico artist John Garrett installs a quilt at the New Mexico State University Speech and Hearing Center in October. The quilt is in honor of his father Edgar R. Garrett. The center will be named for Edgar Garrett at a dedication Friday, Oct. 31. (NMSU photo by Darren Phillips)

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http://ucommphoto.nmsu.edu/newsphoto/garrett_edgar.jpg
CUTLINE: Edgar R. Garrett (Courtesy Photo)

Julie M. Hughes
Oct. 27, 2008

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