Meet the 2024 CDF SCHOLARSHIP Recipients

Anoli Mehta, an SLP graduate student at Longwood University, has been awarded the Rita Purcell-Robertson Scholarship in the amount of $4,000.

Anoli Mehta

Anoli Mehta is a second year student in the Masters in Speech Language Pathology program at Longwood University. She is grateful and excited to be a part of this wonderful field where we all share a love and desire to help others! Over the course of her clinical experiences at Longwood, she has developed interests in both early intervention and pediatric medical settings. She is passionate about caregiver coaching and feeding and swallowing in the NICU setting. She aspires to work as a NICU based speech language pathologist in the future.

Lauren Bledsoe, an SLP graduate student at Radford University, has been awarded the David H. Narburgh Scholarship in the amount of $4,000.

Lauren Bledsoe

Lauren Bledsoe is a second-year graduate student at Radford University. As an undergraduate Biological Sciences major, she created a blog called Exploring Neurodiversity. She was drawn to the field of speech-language pathology due to its blend of teaching and science. She enjoys working with the pediatric and adult populations. She is particularly interested in language disorders and generalization of skills.

Lauren Michaud, an SLP graduate student at James Madison University, has been awarded the Pat Thomas Dewey Scholarship in the amount of $3,000.

Lauren Michaud

Lauren Michaud is a second-year graduate student at James Madison University and alum of the University of Virginia. She was introduced young to speech-language pathology, as the sister of a woman on the autism spectrum. Profound experiences working as a counselor at summer camps that empower individuals with disabilities shaped her decision to pursue speech-language pathology as a career. At this time, Lauren’s clinical interests remain broad; she can envision practice across the lifespan and clinic environments. Regardless of population, she is confident she will return to academia to contribute to the evidence-base, serve as a clinical educator, and advocate for our clients and colleagues.

May Flowers - a Thank you

The Communication Disorders Foundation of Virginia Board of Trustees offers its heartfelt thanks to the individuals who participated in our May flowers campaign. Through the generous support of a number of donors $1500 was raised for student scholarships. Donations were made in **honor** of some outstanding professionals in our field:
Peggy Agee Margaret McElroy
Leslie Burger Chila Nicholson
Susan Cumbee Scott Rankins
Carol Dudding Judi Rassi
Fredia Helbert Carla Scott
Marie Ireland Diane Shelton
In addition, gifts were made in memory of the following persons:
Betty Elizabeth Chafin
Doris and Max Cutright
Rita Purcell-Robertson
Robert Screen
**Diane Shelton’s name was chosen at random to receive a bouquet of flowers.** Thank you to all who donated. You will find these names listed on our donor page. Thank you to Founding CDF Board member Cheryl Brenton for delivering the flowers!

Donation Page

Congratulations to our 2024 Honorees!

Dr. James (Jim) Nicely
2024 Friend of the Foundation Award

Laura Purcell Verdun
2024 Martha Mullins-Callender Awardee

Catherine Thompson
2024 Martha Mullins-Callender Awardee

Visit our Awards and Honors page for more information on these awards!

Our mission

The mission of the Communication Disorders Foundation of Virginia is to serve as a non-profit organization of volunteers who support the professions of speech-language pathology and audiology through fundraising for scholarships awarded to students in Virginia's communication sciences and disorders programs, and to support achievement and honor excellence in student and colleague accomplishments.

Scholarship Information

OUR History

The Foundation began in 1985 as a committee of the Speech-Language-Hearing Association of Virginia (SHAV) with the purpose of raising and awarding scholarship funds for graduate studies in the field of communication disorders. A year later, it was established as an independent foundation with a Board of Trustees and 501(c) (3) status.