2025 ISHA Annual Convention Highlights
Published in the December 2024 issue of the ISHA Voice.
By Nichole Mulvey, Convention Coordinator
I am excited to share some of the professional development and networking details! The new Thursday-Friday format this year will provide two jam-packed days of sessions covering a variety of topics. A sneak peek at the schedule reveals relevant and timely sessions on SLPAs, interprofessional practice, simulation, strengths-based approaches, working with interpreters, and ethical considerations, among many others. The variety of expertise and experience Illinois practitioners provide always impresses me!
As the Convention Coordinator, I work to secure a speaker for the awards banquet, where we honor deserving ISHA members for their service and advancement of the professions. This year, Dr. Karen Dudek-Brannan will be presenting on being a clinical leader within multi-disciplinary teams. Come to celebrate our amazing colleagues at the awards banquet and learn ideas for effective collaboration! Dr. Karen is also well known on social media circuits for her presentations and materials on executive functioning and language-based therapy in school-age clients. She is providing a bonus session on Thursday morning addressing meaningful executive function therapy. As an Illinois-trained SLP, we are grateful to have her share her knowledge with colleagues.
Student Day will be on Friday again this year as we celebrate and encourage the future of our professions. The morning starts with student-specific sessions (occurring simultaneously with professional-level sessions) followed by tailgating and a networking break. Several poster presentations are available between 12:00-2:00 p.m. Be sure to stop by and learn about the amazing work students at several Illinois universities are doing. Student Day wraps up with the annual Knowledge Quest from 3:30-5:00 p.m. Wear the colors of your alma mater and come cheer the teams on! Professionals can also earn continuing education credit during the poster sessions and Knowledge Quest!
The Division of Educational Development (DED) Committee core team members, Ciera Lorio (senior convention co-chair), Elia Olivares (junior convention co-chair), Lea Rose Moravec Markham (student day facilitator), Meredith Saletta Fitzgibbons (SIRCA coordinator), Trina Becker (ASHA professional development coordinator), Debbie McGee (student volunteer coordinator), and I hope this convention honors the spirit and love of the profession that Leah Holman (former past convention co-chair) shared with so many in her service roles within the DED committee work.
Please plan to join us Thursday and Friday, February 6-7, 2025, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL. The 65th Annual ISHA Convention will be one to remember!
