By: Katsura Aoyama, PhD, TSHF President

Congratulations to all the recipients of the 2026 Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation (TSHF) Awards! This year, 38 awards and scholarships, totaling $78,000, were awarded to deserving students and professionals. Thank you to everyone who provided support to the Foundation through a one-time donation or recurring monthly donations.

Thank you also for those who participated in our fundraisers at Convention or attended the award breakfast! These awards and scholarships could not have been made possible without the generosity of our donors. We are truly grateful.

Here are three main ways TSHF supports the professions:

1. Scholarships: TSHF provides support to graduate students who are the future of our professions. This investment in their education and development helps prepare them to excel as outstanding professionals and to assume leadership roles in various settings in the future.
2. Research: TSHF provides support to researchers who are at the forefront of developing new ideas and solutions to help individuals with communication disorders. Many research projects have a local focus that can result in direct contributions to the population served and their community.
3. Service and Education: TSHF provides support to professionals who have demonstrated leadership and service to our professions. Their continued leadership fosters the professions and lays the groundwork for the next generation of leaders.

Please see the April, June, and August issues of the Communicologist regarding this year’s award and scholarship recipients. Your donation is essential to making this happen again in 2027!

Applications are currently being accepted for scholarships, research awards, and service awards to be presented at the annual Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association (TSHA) 2027 Convention in Dallas. Please note that the application deadline is November 1, 2026, for this year’s cycle! This deadline applies to all research awards and service awards. For scholarships, the deadline applies to the application-based scholarships (the Donna Russel Fox scholarship, the Sara Haynes scholarship, and the Larry Higdon scholarship). Please visit www.tshfoundation.org for more information.

The Foundation has a strong commitment to investing in emerging clinicians by increasing scholarships for students, expanding service projects, and enhancing research in the fields of audiology and speech-language pathology.

The overall mission of TSHF is to improve the lives of people with communication disorders by supporting research, education, and service endeavors on their behalf. Through these awards and scholarships, we hope to increase access to effective services, help professionals achieve their goals, and decrease financial barriers for students, researchers, and service providers. We appreciate your contribution to support students, researchers, and professionals in the fields.