Dr. C. Woodruff Starkweather Receives Malcolm Fraser Award

On January 18, 2010, Malcolm Fraser would have been 107 years old. He strove for excellence during his lifetime and we too want to keep the flame of excellence burning.

The Malcolm Fraser Award Recipient was chosen by his peers – all of whom hold Malcolm’s ideals in esteem.

We have long been associated with Dr. C. Woodruff Starkweather! He has edited and written chapters for many Stuttering Foundation books and attended many SFA conferences over the years.

It is a real pleasure and an honor to hand this Award over to Dr. Woody Starkweather with heartfelt congratulations.

Starkweather received the 2010 Malcolm Fraser Award during the January meeting of the Special Interest Division for Fluency and Fluency Disorders.

Barbara Amster, Ph.D. made the following award presentation:

I was asked to give the highlights of the awardee’s career.  This is not an easy feat as his CV is more than 25 pages long, but I will try to give you only the highlights.

Woody Starkweather is an individual whose contributions over more than 40 years have promoted and enhanced public and professional understanding of the nature of stuttering and its treatment. He has demonstrated excellence in the field of stuttering as a master teacher, advocate for people who stutter, and scholar/researcher. In the words of one of his nominators, “I believe that he is one of only a few people whose contributions to the field of stuttering go beyond a listing of research, teaching, and service accomplishments. Woody truly cares about people who stutter, and has worked tirelessly to give them a voice through his writing, his leadership, and his creative vision.”

Many of his writings have changed the way speech-language pathologists evaluate and treat stuttering. His work on the Demands and Capacities Model has had a profound impact on stuttering prevention and has influenced our understanding of factors that contribute to the onset and maintenance of stuttering behaviors, thus setting the stage for multi-factorial views of stuttering.

He has had a stellar career as a scholar and researcher. His book Stuttering, co-written with Janet Givens, received the Choice Magazine Award as the “Best Academic Book of 1997.”  This was the first time that this “Oscar of Academic Publishing” had been given in the field of Speech Pathology. Other books he has written are now considered classics in the field including: Stuttering Prevention: a Clinical Method (1990; co-authored with Sheryl Gottwald & Murray Halfond) and Fluency and Stuttering (1987). He is the author of more than forty articles and chapters concerning: learning processes in stuttering, the Demands and Capacities Model of stuttering, stuttering development, stuttering prevention, the assessment of stuttering, the experience of stuttering, and the efficacy of stuttering therapy.

In the words of one nominator, “his contributions go far beyond the walls of the classroom and clinic. He has made the greatest contribution of anyone I know towards connecting people who care about stuttering, and developing mechanisms for allowing them to learn and support one another. He demonstrated this through his leadership as president of the International Fluency Association, helping develop and nurture it as it grew from a fledgling organization into a recognized avenue of exchange and communication among the international community in stuttering. He was instrumental in the development of ASHA’s Specialty Recognition program. He served on ASHA’s Special Interest Division 4, Fluency and Fluency Disorders, helping to write guidelines and to unify professionals otherwise working in isolation in schools, clinics, hospitals and universities across the country.”

His tireless advocacy for people who stutter has given a strong voice to children and adults who stutter. His leadership in the development of support groups provided the model for future support organizations throughout the world. When he founded STUTT_L, an internet discussion list for researchers, clinicians, and people who stutter, individuals from all of these groups had a forum to discuss and share ideas for the first time. He has had a profound influence on people who stutter, their families, and the speech-language pathologists who treat them. It is with great respect and admiration that we present the 2010 Malcolm Fraser award to Dr. C. Woodruff Starkweather.