ASA President & Resident
Greetings from Ann Ratcliff who has spent the last few weeks learning the ASA ropes as the ASA President! Many of you know me well but for those who don’t, here is a bit of information for you: I grew up in Phoenix and always knew I would retire back to Arizona. I got my bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Redlands in Redlands CA where I was trained as a speech language pathologist. I did clinical work in Riverside Unified School District and then moved on to higher education at Loma Linda University in southern California. While there, I was sent to get a doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. That was the first time I had lived where it snowed! I arrived back at Loma Linda in southern California with a Ph.D. in Communication Disorders and after a few years did a post-doctorate fellowship at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha (more snow!). And after a year in Omaha, I moved to teach at Central Michigan University where I stayed for about 25 years (even more snow!!).
During my time in Michigan I was able to develop an expertise in technology for people who were totally unable to speak (think Stephan Hawking or Roger Ebert). This was extremely rewarding but it was stressful to keep up with the continually evolving technology. Luckily my university was extremely supportive and funded a wonderful well-equipped lab for my students and myself to meet those speech technology needs from all over Michigan.
Sometime in the early 2000s through National Public Radio, I heard about this new university affiliated retirement community in Tucson called Academy Village. So, on sabbaticals and holidays I came out and visited Academy Village. Frankly, I pretty much ‘stalked’ Academy Village for around 15 years. Finally in 2016 it was time to retire, and I was able to buy a lovely townhome in Academy Village over on Carver that faced the Rincon mountains. (no more snow!) I have been here nine and a half years and absolutely love it!
When I realized last fall that the ASA was going to lose the past president of the board, the chairman of the board, the current president of the board and the operations manager pretty much at the same time, I had a ‘moment’ in my living room and made a decision to step up for a year. So here I am with the hope that we can take ASA into the future as a transparent, vibrant, outreaching, ‘in-reaching’ hive of lifelong learning for us all.
In closing I would appreciate your continued feedback, support as well as your patience.
We’ve got this!
Ann