Jergers Celebrate Retirement; New Fellowship Created in Their Honor

This summer, Drs. Susan and Jim Jerger celebrated their retirement from UT Dallas’ School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS). Friends, family and colleagues from around the country joined UT Dallas faculty and staff to honor them for their lifelong contributions to the field of audiology.

During the celebration, the University and the American Academy of Audiology Foundation announced they have created the Susan and Jim Jerger Research in Audiology Fellowship.

“The establishment of the Jerger Fellowship is an especially fitting tribute to the Jergers, given their many contributions to the science and community of audiology,” said Dr. Ross Roeser, executive director emeritus of the Callier Center for Communication Disorders. “I hope all those whose professional or personal lives have been touched by Susan and Jim will join me in making a gift in honor of these two very special people.”

Roeser announced the fellowship along with Dr. Bert Moore, dean of BBS and Aage and Margareta Møller Distinguished Professor, and Dr. Angela Shoup, chair of the American Academy of Audiology Foundation board, at the Jergers’ retirement celebration in June.

The fellowship will support the studies and research of exceptional audiology doctoral students at the Callier Center. UT Dallas will match donations to the fellowship up to $25,000. The goal is to raise at least $25,000 to endow the fellowship at $50,000.

The Jergers have a long connection to the American Academy of Audiology and UT Dallas.

The Jergers’ relationship with the academy dates to the creation of the organization. On Jan. 30, 1988, they hosted the meeting of 32 audiologists that is considered the Founders’ Day for the academy. Jim Jerger served as the academy’s first president and as editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Academy of Audiology from 1989 to 2011.

He joined the UT Dallas faculty in 1997 and was named Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. During his tenure, he worked with the programs in applied cognition and neuroscience, as well as the communication sciences and disorders program at the Callier Center. His research focused on auditory processing disorders in children and seniors.

His other contributions include serving as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research from 1963 to 1970. He also has written or co-written more than 310 publications in audiology.

Susan Jerger joined the UT Dallas faculty in 1997 as the Ashbel Smith Professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. She directed the Undergraduate Honors Program as well as the UT Dallas Children’s Speech Processing Lab, a research site that studied developing children’s knowledge of the meanings and sound patterns of words, and how childhood hearing loss affects this development. She also worked with the cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and speech-language pathology and audiology programs.

Her other contributions include serving as editor-in-chief of Ear and Hearing from 1992 to 2001. She also was selected as the Carhart Lecturer, American Auditory Society; Sursa Lecturer, Indiana University School of Medicine; James A. Moore Lecturer, Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University; Norma Slepecky Lecturer, Syracuse University; and as a member of the College of CSR Reviewers, National Institutes of Health.

After a lifetime of dedication to teaching and conducting research in audiology, the Jergers have retired to the Pacific Northwest to spend time with their family.

“Susan and Jim Jerger have been exemplars of academic excellence in all of its forms and have been instrumental in advancing the field of hearing research, the profession of audiology and the University,” Moore said.

To make a contribution to the Susan and Jim Jerger Research in Audiology Fellowship, visit utdallas.edu/calliercenter/give or call Shanon Patrick at 214-905-3084.