August 4, 2025
East Texas Baptist University is proud to announce the opening of the William B. Dean, M.D. Center for Language and Literacy Development, a no-cost clinic offering speech-language pathology services to the East Texas community. Located at Synergy Park in downtown Marshall, the clinic will begin serving clients on Monday, August 25, providing care for individuals of all ages with communication, language-literacy, speech, and cognitive challenges.
Made possible by a generous $500,000 grant from the Dean Foundation, the William B. Dean, M.D. Center for Language and Literacy Development honors the legacy of the late Dr. William B. Dean, a pioneer in the treatment of learning differences and advocate for children with dyslexia. The Center reflects his lifelong mission to remove barriers to learning and supports both graduate training and vital services for the East Texas region.
The clinic also serves as a key training site for students in ETBU’s new Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology (MS-SLP) program, who will earn required clinical hours under the direct supervision of certified and licensed speech-language pathologists.
"We're incredibly excited to launch our speech-language pathology program this fall and open our doors to the community through our new university clinic,” Director of Speech-Language Pathology Dr. Ana Paula Mumy said. “This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to gain real-world experience while providing much-needed speech and language services to local families. I am looking forward to this meaningful partnership between education and community service."
The clinic will offer no-cost evaluation and treatment in areas such as:
- Language-Literacy Difficulties (such as written expression, reading comprehension, oral communication, academic language processing)
- Persistent Articulation Issues
- Accent Modification (for improved intelligibility of regional, cultural, or non-native dialects)
- Stuttering
- Autism and Social Interaction Skills
- Executive Functioning Difficulties (such as planning, organizational skills, goal setting, working memory deficits)
- Cognitive-Linguistic Challenges (such as word retrieval issues, attention and language processing, slower processing speed, abstract language and higher-order thinking, social communication)
- Swallowing (disorders affecting swallowing function)
Appointments will be available Monday–Thursday afternoons and Friday mornings at the Dean Center housed in Synergy Park, 100 N. Bolivar Street, Suite 302, Marshall, TX.
The Master of Science (M.S.) education program in speech-language pathology (residential) at East Texas Baptist University is a Candidate for Accreditation by the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CAA) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2200 Research Boulevard, #310, Rockville, MD 20850, 800-498-2071 or 301-296-5700. Candidacy is a “pre-accreditation” status with the CAA, awarded to developing or emerging programs for a maximum period of 5 years.
ETBU’s MS-SLP program is designed to address the shortage of licensed SLPs in East Texas and beyond. Local families often travel over 100 miles for services, and national data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 21% increase in SLP demand by 2031, well above the average growth rate for healthcare professions.
The two-year graduate program prepares students for national certification and state licensure and integrates academic rigor with Christian servant leadership.
A ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the clinic’s opening will be held on Friday, August 22 at 1:00 p.m. at Synergy Park. The public is invited to join ETBU faculty, students, and community partners for this special occasion. Light refreshments and guided tours of the clinic will follow the ceremony.
For questions about ETBU’s William B. Dean Center for Language and Literacy Development, contact:
Rebecca Smith | Clinical Director
rpsmith@etbu.edu | 903.923.2315
For questions about ETBU’s Speech-Language Pathology program, contact:
Dr. Ana Paula Mumy | Program Director
apmumy@etbu.edu | 903.923.2836