L-R: Brett Martin PhD, Associate Professor, Program in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences and Acting Executive Officer, Program in Audiology Graduate Center, City University of New York, 2016 AuD graduates, and Doug Beck, AuD, Director of Academic Sciences, Oticon Inc.
Douglas L. Beck, AuD, director of academic sciences at Oticon Inc, gave the commencement address to the 2016 Doctor of Audiology graduates of the consortial doctoral education program in audiology at City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, Brooklyn College, and Hunter College.
Oticon reports that at the “white coat” ceremony held at the Graduate Center in New York, Beck encouraged the graduates to stay passionate about audiology.
“You cannot settle and you must do great work,” he told them. “You will discover errors, missteps and many things to improve, but it’s your responsibility to contribute and make it better – even if your colleagues disagree. You must push forward and you must do great work because we’re all counting on you.”
Douglas L. Beck, AuD
Dr Beck addressed the challenges facing students at a time when audiology is at a crossroads. “It is all changing, just as it always has, and change is hard, but change is mostly very good,” he noted. “I hope you’ve already figured out what you love, and I hope it includes audiology, and taking care of patients, and research, and publishing. My personal thought is the first hundred years of audiology were about hearing, and the next 100 years will be about listening and how the brain needs, uses, and interprets sound – BrainHearing. As you know, ‘listening is where hearing meets brain.’ Now it’s your turn. The greatest discoveries, knowledge, ideas, concepts, science and art are made, 99% of the time, by young people. By you!”
In his speech, Beck called upon his own experiences as well as those of Apple founder Steve Jobs and humanitarian Mother Theresa. “Be respectful. Listen. Let your patients tell you their story, even though you have heard it all a thousand times before. It’s new for them, and it’s important to them that you be attentive, and interested and that you listen. Mother Theresa said they won’t remember the words you said. They surely will not remember ‘decibels,’ ‘otoacoustic emissions,’ ‘auditory brainstem response,’ ‘SNHL,’ ‘WRS’ and all our other jargon. But they will remember how you make them feel.”
The Graduate Center, CUNY, offers post-bachelors and post-masters tracks in the AuD program. The program incorporates comprehensive academic and clinical training under a nationally and internationally recognized doctoral faculty. Externship placement opportunities at world-renowned medical centers and clinical facilities provide students with clinical experiences in early identification, comprehensive assessment, and audiologic habilitative or rehabilitative services delivered to the diverse multicultural, multiethnic population residing in the New York metropolitan area.
Source: Oticon Inc
