HHS appoints two acting department chairs

NIU’s College of Health and Human Sciences has named Sue E. Ouellette as acting chair of the Department of Communicative Disorders and Laura Smart as acting chair of the School of Family, Consumer and Nutrition Sciences.

Ouellette replaces Earl “Gip” Seaver, who is now vice provost, and Smart replaces Mary Pritchard, who now is associate dean of the college. Both assume their positions immediately.

Ouellette is a professor in the rehabilitation counseling area of the Department of Communicative Disorders.

Her past experience includes serving as the director of the Northern Illinois University Research and Training Center on Traditionally Underserved Persons who are Deaf and as project director of a number of federally funded research and training projects representing more than $5 million in funding.

She is a past president of the American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association, the Illinois Rehabilitation Association and the American Society for Deaf Children. She also has served as both chair and a member of the Illinois State Advisory Council on the Education of Deaf Children and has been a member of the faculty of Project Inclusion, a multinational collaborative effort that resulted in the first comparative course on the inclusion of deaf persons in society.

Ouellette has authored more than 35 articles and monographs on deafness-related topics and has delivered in excess of 200 presentations at various national and international meetings of professionals, consumers and family members. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist and licensed clinical professional counselor in Illinois, a certified rehabilitation counselor and a nationally certified counselor.

Smart is a professor in the family and child studies area in the School of Family, Consumer, and Nutrition Sciences.

She earned her Ph.D. in family studies at the University of Connecticut in 1979 and joined the NIU faculty later that year. She has worked closely with the Family Social Services internship program since joining the faculty, and became an associate in NIU’s gerontology program when it started in 1986.

Smart has been active in the National Conference on Family Relations and the Groves Conference on Marriage and the Family for more than 30 years, and has held leadership positions in both organizations. She also has served as secretary of the Illinois Council on Family Relations. She is the author of two textbooks and one scholarly monograph, and has authored numerous scholarly articles and several book chapters. Smart is a certified family life educator.

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