SAA Committee Member Spotlight: Katie Stevenson

Why did you decide to become a SAA committee volunteer?
During my second year of graduate school, I decided to volunteer on an SAA committee to grow as a student by learning more about our profession, to meet audiology students, and to facilitate growth of my local SAA chapter (and others) by sharing new ideas/initiatives. Through volunteering, I feel that I was able to make a contribution to our future as a profession by participating in various AAA/SAA events. Furthermore, I was inspired by one of my mentors, Dr. Kate Marchelletta, to seek out volunteer opportunities with national SAA as a way to execute and enhance my leadership skills.

What do your responsibilities within your committee include?
Currently, I am serving as the Chapter Resource Subcommittee Chair on the Chapter and Member Relations Committee. My responsibilities as subcommittee chair include organizing tasks and timelines, delegating assignments, leading bi-monthly conference calls, and communicating with our Chapter and Member Relations Committee Chair and the national SAA BOD, just to highlight a few. The goal of the Chapter Resources Subcommittee is to promote student involvement and chapter growth through SAA resources. For example, my subcommittee creates the SAA Monthly Updates, publishes Regional SAA Facebook posts, and develops several SAA resources to facilitate chapter growth/development.

Within the field of audiology, what are your primary interests?
My primary interests in the field of audiology are working with the pediatric population and cochlear implants. I enjoy electrophysiology and amplification, too. Cochlear implants will always have a special place in my life because my father is a cochlear implant recipient. He was implanted as an adult after losing his hearing progressively. His success with a cochlear implant is truly what inspired my career path; at age ten, I decided I wanted to be an audiologist and work with cochlear implants! I enjoy all facets of our profession though – the opportunities to learn are infinite!